Choosing a book to spend time with is a very personal commitment. Are the characters compelling enough to care about their journeys? Is the POV a voice I like to hear; a psyche I want to share (even if disturbing)? Does this book keep me referring back to scenes or a character’s plights and resolutions in the days, weeks, or longer that follow the last page read?
Like most people, at different moments, I read for different reasons. Sometimes it is for entertainment and escape; to disappear into someone else’s world. Other times it is to gain knowledge, enlightenment, or inspiration. And often it is to just marvel at the ability of a string of words that lead my own mind into places it’s never before ventured.
As is often said, life is short. I have the utmost respect for readers’ time and as an author I am honored when a reader chooses to spend their time with me. I hope you find my reviews of other authors helpful as you make the choice of books to read.
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The Women by Kristin Hannah
This is a mixed review. On the one hand I loved Hannah’s choice to focus on the women in Viet Nam, the devoted nurses, many of whom were understandably traumatized by what they saw, yet they preformed their duties above and beyond what most could imagine. The first 1/2 of the book is in Viet Nam and due to Hannah’s descriptions, I truly felt like I was immersed in this world, surrounded by the smells, the sounds, the air of Viet Nam. The second 1/2, the time back in the US when the vets struggled with their experiences and were mistreated by the citizens, even family, was less interesting to read. Maybe because I’m older than the author and lived it, having gone to college with many vets in a military city (San Diego), but Hannah’s descriptions were old news and not enlightening or that interesting at all.
I found the protagonist to be interesting as she navigated her life as a nurse in Viet Nam and developed wonderful alliances with other nurses. The team dependence and connections were fabulous. But she became quite stereotyped in her numerous love life endeavors– all the men seemed to be taken with her (aren’t we tired of reading about women that no one can resist?) and she almost swooned like in a 1950s Hollywood romance over these devastatingly charismatic charmers who lied their way into the bedroom. In fact, the only love interest who was honest, was short-lived and just couldn’t grab her attention for long, before she was back to one of the lying bad boys. The contrast between her ability to form deep and meaningful relationships with a couple of very devoted women friends, and her naivety and self-destruction with men was disturbing. All-in-all, this was an interesting read, just not great.
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Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
Audible narrator: Helen Lasar
Mixed reactions to follow — > will review after my book club discussion, need more thoughts on this one….Well, nothing really changed after the book group chat. There are times when I learn from this wonderful group new insights that turn my head around on books, but we all pretty much agreed that this one just didn’t grab any of us, we found the characters to be self-absorbed, and all the hype on this book was not understood. Although I don’t require a protagonist to be likable, they at least have to be interesting or stimulate new thoughts. I just couldn’t figure out why I was watching this self-centered narrator continue to lie, plagiarize, justify her actions, and get away with it all. But it just wasn’t the narrator, there were really no characters with redeeming qualities. Maybe that was the point — that much of humanity is despicably self-serving. But even if that were true, why would I want to spend my time being surrounded by that?
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Absolution by Alice McDermott
Audible narrator: Jesse Vilinsky
I thoroughly enjoyed this historic fiction. It is primarily told by a woman, now elderly, about her time as a young American wife of an engineer-consultant in 1963 Saigon. She was naive then, not now as she tells her story about the wives of important US the non-military in that torn apart country, and the society around them. McDermott does a fabulous job of taking the reader to that time and place. But this is not a war novel. She doesn’t tell this story from that lens, but much more peripherally as these wives try to navigate their situation.
The musings, the insightful observations… of time, place, and the more philosophical questions about race, poverty, belonging, who really does charity benefit, what does it mean to make decisions for others that is “for their own good,” but without their consent… all give this novel much more depth than the plot. It is exactly for those reasons that I loved living inside this novel.
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The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
Audible narrators: Ruthie Ann Mills, Kimiko Glenn, Alex Allwine, Gabra Zackman, Jeremy Bobb, Joy Osmanski, Emily Walton, Erin Wilhelmi
Yet another fabulous historical fiction by Lisa See? I seem to be reading her work in reverse order of her writing and yet each and every one has been delightful, engaging, and enlightening. I’m becoming a true fan. Why? In the Tea Girl, I have been immersed in a compelling story about a brilliant female protagonist from an ethnic minority known as the Akha in a rural village in a tea growing mountain region of China. Although this begins in the 1990s (is that historical fiction? if so, I’m feeling old) this isolated culture clearly feels quite attached to a much more ancient time with its cultural beliefs and rituals. Yet the cultural revolution hits China and the importance of the mountain people and their treasured (i.e. much desired by commercial interests) tea changes everything.
But like all of Lisa See’s books, the education that the reader gets for a time and place so far from most of our experience, is just background for the story she tells of relationships, attachments, love, betrayal, and redemption. In fact when I realized that I was 3/4 of the way through this novel, I wanted to slow it all down, to stave off the end, and yet was compelled to find out out the finish.
After Lady Tan’s Circle of Women (my favorite book of 2023), I truly thought that reading her earlier writings, I’d find disappointments. That has not been the case. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is a fabulous read.
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The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Audible narrator: Jennifer Lim
Lisa See’s The Island of Sea Women is a breathtakingly deep historical fiction that takes place on the Korean island of Jeju over the decades that cover the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and 40s, WWII, the Korean War, and ends in 2008 with cell phones and tourism. It is the story of the friendship of Mi-ja, who is forever trying to overcome her shame at being the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and Young-Sook, the heir apparent in a family of haenyeo, to legendary free divers of Jeju.
Their friendship is initially like many teenage girl attachments, like a first and forever love. But this island, filled with so much deep community spirit offset by government domination, is the setting for unfathomable cruelty, misunderstanding, loyalty, attachment, and unforgivable betrayal.
Much like the first of her books that I read (but most recently published: Lady Tan’s Circle of Women), I was awestruck by Lisa See’s talent in taking the reader to a time and place so outside most of our experience. Although I have spent time on Jeju, it was not during this time period, and I only wish I’d been able to read this prior to that visit as it would have thoroughly enhanced the experience. I learned so much about the haenyeo women through See’s beautifully written characters who brought this culture alive on the page.
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The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Audible Narrator: Genevieve Gaunt
I found this historical novel quite compelling. I haven’t yet read Maggie O’Farrell’s more acclaimed book, Hamnet, yet so can’t compare the two, but I thoroughly enjoyed this slow-paced march to the death of the young duchess, Lucrezia di Cosimo de’ Medici, due to the fabulous writing and the way the reader lives inside this time and place. O’Farrell has taken some liberties with history for literary purposes (as she explains in the author’s note at the end), but the tone she and ambiance is fabulous, and it is still debated whether the first young bride of Alfonso II, Duke of Ferarra died of pulmonary tuberculosis or by the hands of the Duke himself. This story is told from the point of view of the 15-16 year old bride who struggles to know if her suspicions are perceptive intuition, or paranoia about her husband. Yet the young girl’s talents, guarded friendships, fears of betrayal, and observations are quite believable within the context of this novel.
The other point that is shown clearly in this story is the role of women, even wealthy born women, as property acquired by “noblemen” and best used only for child-bearing, the proverbial golden handcuffs, although Lucrezia’s mother, Eleanor of Toledo and wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany shows a very different role that some women occupied as their powerful husband’s advisor. This model clearly confused young Lucrezia when her own marriage resembled nothing like her parent’s.
Most readers will likely do as I did and spend some time looking up this interesting historical figures. The book brings to vivid life folks we only see in museum portraits as the stodgy rich and powerful of a previous era. This is what I love about historical fiction.
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Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
Audible narrators: Richard Armitage and Stephanie Racine
A compelling thriller with lots of juicy twists and turns, Rock Paper Scissors is a very fast read…because it is very hard to put down. It is written by three different points of view and one that the reader is likely to attribute to one character until discovering, about 2/3 through, that it was another, requiring one (or at least me) to have to re-think all that has been thought! This is one of those fun novels that puts the reader on their toes trying to follow clues and get there before the author’s reveals.
The main characters are two women and one man, with the understandable tensions that brings, but backstory secrets that are slowly and deliciously disclosed brings this threesome tension into high levels of mystery and intrigue. The very last twist (no spoilers here) was completely unexpected, leaving me quite satisfied at the end. I don’t typically like thrillers, truth be told, don’t like feeling tense and anxious. Somehow this one sat very well with me, just the right amount of intrigue, tension, no gore, and mystery. Well done, Alice Feeney, and well read by both narrators.
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The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
Audible Narrators: Ariel Blake and Nicole Lewis
This is one of my favorite kinds of historical fiction. We are taken deep into the experience of a time, place, and culture that is not our own, at least not recently, and we learn things that we may have never been aware of, but are deeply fascinating and enlighten us to the impact of such events onto current reality.
The writing of these multi-layered characters, both of the two major protagonists as well as many less prominent but no less vibrant individuals, brings this time, the 1950s, in America to life. We learn about the degrees of prejudice and group inclusion/exclusion behavior that permeated and influenced one’s sense of belonging. The author’s notes at the end are also quite interesting as she clearly did her research to bring this story and history to life.
If there were one part that I struggled with, it was the occasional romance-like over-the-top descriptions of intimate relationships that stood in contrast to the deeper attachment/conflict connections that are truer to real life. (Full disclosure: not a fan of romance novels, and this certainly isn’t one, but some of the writing can lean in that direction at times). Nonetheless, I highly recommend this novel for those who love being immersed in a good story in an historically informative setting.
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Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
Audible Narrator: Stephanie Racine
I’d give this 3.5 stars, and decided to round up for public reviews. This was a “staff recommendations” in a lovely bookstore in Mendocino, CA. I found myself engaged and enjoyed trying to put the pieces together in this complicated mystery…actually several mysteries going on at once, which was delightful. I found each character well written, all very distinct, most quite flawed yet realistically so, and getting each point of view added great texture to their voice. The voices wonderfully read by Audible narrator Stephanie Racine, by the way.
The ultimate solution reveals a somewhat preposterous backstory (which is why it didn’t get 4 solid stars). Nonetheless it is a fun, compelling novel which challenges the reader to continuously try to figure out these well-disguised mysteries. It is an easy, fun, fast read.
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Sankofa, A Novel by Chibundu Onuzo
Audible Narrator: Sara Powell
Well-constructed and beautifully written, this is an easy-on-the-eyes book. We follow a mixed-race British woman who is struggling with next steps as her only child is completely independent, her mother has recently passed away, and her husband of many years has cheated on her. She is lost and without much knowledge of her self outside these roles. She finds a diary of her estranged father whom she has never met amongst her mother’s belongings and she embarks on a trip to Africa to find him. It is a delight to join her on her journey, both literally and in her head. She discovers more than she anticipated.
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Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
Audible narrator: Lucy Liu
For me, Celeste Ng hit it out of the park again. This is a very powerful dystopian fiction that is frighteningly current and relevant. I enjoyed being in the head of her main narrator, a 12 year old Asian-American boy, who finds himself in the midst of a world that is unfortunately not hard to imagine. America has a history of removing children (African-American slave children, Native American children, the current immigrant children separated at the border, and the sometimes questionable removals by “child protective services”) that makes this seemingly preposterous action sadly believable. It is an America that has gone on overdrive for pure “patriotism” and monitoring patriotic thought, with a special prejudice against China. Our young narrator’s Asian-American mother has left the home in order to protect him from such a removal and allow him to be raised by his loving (white) father. But the boy misses his mother and ultimately needs to find her, learn of her plight, and understand her activism.
It reminded me of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, although less epic and without the overt violence. Our Missing Heart’s is about the right-wing corruption of a society as the background for a story about family, motherhood, attachment, and what it means to take the risks of activism instead of the more convenient turning of a blind eye.
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Trust by Hernan Diaz
Audible narrator: Edoardo Ballerini
A story in four parts, each told by a different narrator with very different perspectives on the same story. Who is a reliable story teller? Which version is true? The reader is left on their own to decide.
Part 1, “Bonds” is a story within a story, a fictionalized and exaggerated version of the main characters, written by a journalist to expose a powerful financier, Andrew Bevel, who was said to have miraculously survived (and likely contributed to) the 1929 stock market crash and his brilliant but ultimately insane wife who was the brains behind the financial success. Part 2, “My Life,” is the rough draft memoir of this entrepreneur, written as a rebuttal to the story told in Part 1. His jottings are unfinished, thoughts are interrupted as if to be filled in later, and reveal an entitled narcissism that is condescending towards his wife, Mildred. He paints her as frivolous and irrelevant to his success. Part 3, “A Memoir, Remembered” is written from the perspective of Bevel’s young, talented personal secretary about her experience working closely with Bevel and is written 50 years after the events she describes. Part 4, “Futures,” is told by Mildred as she lays dying in a hospital in Europe. It is not until this final part that the story comes together.
I found this book intriguing. The pieces were difficult to put together due to the continuously questionable reliability of each narrator, but the whole gave a story to ponder. Did I like it? I’m not sure. I certainly suffered through Part 2 due to Bevel’s Ayn Rand like philosophy. But maybe that’s not the right question. I would like to read it again, knowing from the beginning what is revealed at the end. This would allow me to be less concerned with the story and more engaged with the perspective of each narrator. But this will only happen after a great break from the first read.
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Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Audible narrator: Maura Tierney
This is a beautiful, complex, and engaging family saga. Napolitano does not shy away from difficult, but very real topics that many families struggle with and she writes so thoughtfully and warmly about them that I was truly in awe. When a young man struggles with depression that stems from distant and traumatized parents, he ultimately finds himself within the context of a loving relationship and a deep friendship that aid in his character arc, but it is far from being as trite as this sentence reads. It is a long struggle and results in the severing of a very tight sisterhood. Each of four daughters come alive in their individual ways on the page and the reader learns to understand their very separate paths and the difficult decisions they make. It is a story about finding a way to be comfortable with oneself, to accept life on its terms as well as to have life accept you on yours, to love, to forgive, and to even hold grudges for as long as one needs. It was a lovely experience to be inside this novel. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy this genre.
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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Audible narrator: Dominic Hoffman
How is it that every time I read a new McBride book I think, “Ah, this is truly my favorite!”? The Heaven & Earth Grocer Store is every bit as brilliant as The Good Lord Bird and Deacon King Kong. It is another great American novel by an extraordinarily talented author.
McBride has a unique style in which he delves deeply into observational truths about America that do not shy away from the gritty reality of life in a small Jewish immigrant and African American town in Pennsylvania in the 1930s with all the typical group conflicts and challenges, yet McBride is able to leave the reader truly hopeful about humanity. How does he do that? I’m truly in awe.
McBride is a kind, compassionate writer about complex subjects. Flawed characters with such odd and whimsical nick names as Big Soap, Fatty, Monkey Pants, Paper, and Dodo, to name a few, are understood within the context of their difficult lives. They compete and argue, they struggle to survive the fiscally impoverished and often powerless positions they are put into, yet this is countered by personal strengths, deep alliances, and a strong sense community ethics. Although the story deals with strong social issues, McBride does not create angst in the reader, but rather a sharp curiosity and a delight to spend hours with his cast of characters knowing that they will navigate their roadblocks to a just end. This is a fabulous story, beautifully told.
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Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken
Dr. Van Tulleken, an infectious disease physician by training, has extensively researched the topic of ultra-processed foods (UPF) which has contributed to obesity, diabetes, and likely other diseases and put his discoveries together with reports of interviews of industry leaders as well as family vignettes to convey the information in a way that is easily digested (pun? you decide). He extensively backs up his arguments with resourced studies. The amount of industry produced edible substances– additives, flavorings, emulsifiers, stabilizers, etc– that are ubiquitous on the grocery shelves of products and contained in the fast-food shops are daunting.
I came to this book from wondering about some ill-defined GI problems in myself and my husband. I began to wonder about the evidence of drastic changes in the gastric bio-environment created by eating these non-food additives that I’d read about. I’ve not eaten fast-food for years, but when glancing at the ingredients on grocery store staples (outside of the produce department), I’ve been amazed at the similarity of many of the ingredients to a college inorganic chemistry lab. Van Tulleken’s book discusses the rapid rise of such products, their use to extend shelf-life and more frighteningly, to make the foods more commensurate with over-indulgence (increased eating leading to increased sales). I found particularly interesting the chapter about how differently the FDA monitors food additives compared to pharmaceuticals.
It’s not a fast read. It needs to be taken in sections. I wished he’d given more about how to identify UPF more than just: if it’s not found in an average home kitchen, it’s UPF. It’s a fine start, but I’ll likely search on to get more of the specifics. This is an important topic.
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None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
Audible narrator: A whole cast- all well-done
This psychological thriller is hard to put down, riveting, fast-paced, and easy to binge. It is dark, twisty, anxiety provoking, but not graphically disturbing. It is the story of two forty-five year old women whose very different lives intersect when a chance birthday meeting at a restaurant brings them to the realization that they are “birthday twins,” born on the same day, same year. One is a successful podcaster, married to the kind (but too fond of the drink) father of her two young children, who decides to do a podcast series on this topic of birthday twins. The other is a reclusive and lonely mother of two adult children and married to a man many years her senior. There are so many twists and turns, lies, secrets, misdirections, that it would be impossible to say much more without spoiling this novel, so no more about plot. The characters are intriguing, complex, and often not what they seem. The writing is tight. Much of the story unfolds in the form of podcast interviews, so I’d highly recommend listening to this one through audible. It is a format particularly conducive to how this story is told.
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The Maid by Nita Prose
Audible narrator: Lauren Ambrose
This was a fun, delightful, compelling read. At one level it is a murder mystery, a cozy whodunit, and the reader is taken down that intriguing road of trying to discover the meaning of all clues and misdirections. And on another level, it is a story of attachment, friendship, loyalty, and discovering that the “truth” is often subjective. Our narrator is “quirky” (on the spectrum? neuro-diverse? never named, just experienced) and is an unreliable reporter leaving the reader feeling both worried about and protective of this young woman. Typically I would say: Oh, no, not another quirky protagonist! Haven’t we seen that enough with Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant, Bachmann’s Ove and Britt-Marie, and what I’d consider the very much overdone Elizabeth Zott in Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry, to name just a few. Quirky is definitely in vogue and an author’s ability to make one delight in and compassionate with these characters vs eye-rolling and the desire to scream ‘enough already!’ is a real talent that Prose conquers in this debut novel. In order not to overdose on this unusual character, I will likely take a break before reading the next in this series, The Mystery Guest, but I will surely return to Prose’s Molly the Maid and anticipate another wonderful, and easy-on-the-read experience.
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Chief Inspector Ganache Series by Louise Penny
Book 1-Still Life by Louise Penny
Audible narrator: Ralph Colsham
I had heard so much about Louise Penny mysteries that I decided to start with the first in the Armand Gamache series…and will continue! Although I wouldn’t call this great literature, it contains well-differentiated characters that capture the reader and the requisite twist and turns as we attempt to figure out who-dun-it? This is fun, fast, and very well written with thought-provoking throw away philosophies about life that show the depth of this author. And who doesn’t love a mystery in which the reader becomes convinced that a character is certainly the killer, only to switch to the next candidate, and the next, and still be surprised at the end?
Book 2- A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
Audible narrator: Ralph Colsham
Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Fiction, this wonderful mystery set in the countryside of Quebec was truly a fun read. I love her style in this book in which a poet is one of the colorful cast of characters in the small town of Three Pines and thought-provoking quotes from her and other famous poets enter at appropriate times to spice up the prose (and this coming from someone who is not typically a fan of poetry!). I listened via Audible and was shocked to discover that the book is 585 pages– it flew by for me and I can hardly wait for the next installment.
Book 3- The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
Audible narrator: Ralph Colsham
Again, but not repetitive. Another murder in Three Pines– a quaint little charming town in which living seems to be at a premium. This time Gamache and his team are engaged on two fronts: the murder of a popular newcomer to town takes us into the wonderful ponderings of who and why, while the second, the personal sabotage of Gamache by an unknown group within the Sûreté du Quebec who have secretly infiltrated his team brings us squarely into a story that has only been hinted at in the first two book, but is fleshed out here. I found myself glued to both plots, love these quirky and townsy characters that live in Three Pines, and am now fully committed to Penny’s series.
Interestingly though, a friend whose opinion I greatly respect, found this book less engaging than other Penny books. She became bored and impatient at about 2/3 of the book (when the sabotage by the Sûreté emerges) just at the point that I thought “Oh boy, we’ll finally learn more about this background thread.” This leads me to conclude that reading is often about expectations, mood, and for me, the order of reading. I read this one right after an intense psychological thriller (“None of This Is True”), and the pace and literary environment that this book provided was exactly what I needed to wash my palate of the angst of my previous read. In fact, this whole series is a great every-other for more psychologically or otherwise challenging books.
Book 4- A Rule Against Murder
Audible narrator: Ralph Colsham
The above 3 were read by me in 2023, and this one scanned into 2024 (just thought I’d add a date reminder for myself). It seems that poor Chief Inspector Armand Gamache cannot get away from being fully surrounded by murder, even when on holiday with his wife for their anniversary at the Manoir Bellechasse (note to self: go nowhere near this man!). This one takes place primarily outside Three Pines although there are still some of this community’s inhabitants and we make a quick visit there, which helps solve the “how” part of the mystery. As before, these are cozy mysteries, not anxiously compelling page turners, but a nice lukewarm bath as an interlude for my more gripping or challenging reads. We meet new and interesting characters, the family of Three Pines character, Peter Morrow, and the contempt this rich family has for others: “The Morrows seemed to believe there was a special code that allowed them to say what they liked about others, deliberately within their hearing, without it’s being discourteous.” I rather like the middle-class values of Gamache. I’m sure I’ll continue to read this series interspersed with other books.
Book 5- The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
Audible narrator: Ralph Colsham
Penny’s writing draws me in to so many things beyond just her twisty plots and fabulous characters as the reader tries to solve the mystery for themselves. This one adds lots of philosophical ponderings, vibrant settings, and a very interesting entry into the art world as it intersects with crime. What I wasn’t prepared for was one of my favorite Three Pines characters being arrested for murder. Even though there were lots of clues along the way, any reader who has read these in sequence will hope for a twist in this inevitability and bristle at this ending. And yet, there is a thread of doubt at the end. Or am I making that up, seeing what is not really there, in order to absolve this character? If it is true, this is also different than the previous four in this series. We are used to all being tidied up in the end. I must move on quickly to #6, Bury Your Dead, to see if my suspicions bears out.
Book 6- Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
Audible narrator: Ralph Colsham
When I read other reviewers state that this was Louise Penny’s best yet, I sighed and entered with trepidation. How many times does a friend rave about a movie or book only to find yourself shrugging at the end, too much hype having led to too much expectation with the result being disappointment? Not so here. She has really outdone herself on this one and I couldn’t have been more impressed. This is clearly my favorite thusfar.
There are many characters, but if these books are read in order, many of the characters and their quirks are already quite familiar, leaving in one’s mind the room for the new ones. There are actually three mysteries that are intertwined, flit back and forth (but not dizzyingly so), the twists are what we’ve come to expect from Penny, and all is satisfyingly sewed up in the end.
The other way these novels stand out is that in addition to them being intriguing murder mysteries (pulling the reader to try to figure out who-dun-it), this is really the background setting for much deeper themes of friendship, loyalty, community, as well as grappling with the darker sides of friends, and the occasional unforgivable betrayal. I had called these “cozy mysteries” in my review of Book 4, but now know that is incorrect. Her themes and characters are much deeper. The interview of Penny at the end of the Audible version gives an excellent insight into the thoughts behind these wonderful novels.
Book 7- A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
Audible narrator: Ralph Colsham
Anyone who has come as far as book 7, is already hooked. They know that they will find more interesting pieces to the Three Pines community, a murder will happen early on, and the real fun of these reads goes far beyond solving a mystery, but in the philosophical writing of this fabulous author. In A Trick of the Light, Penny focuses on the chiaroscuro, an art term that speaks to the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. But for Penny, this term goes far beyond art and into the characters– the sharp contrasts between the light and dark sides of our selves. She also hits the themes of destructive grudges and the difficulty of forgiveness.
I have not yet mentioned in these reviews anything about our reliable narrator in the Audible version, Ralph Colsham. By the time one gets through 2 or 3 of this series, Colsham lulls into a certain state of mind with his voice that by now seems to have been created solely for these novels. We hear his voice, we remember this large cast of characters, and we are taken back to the ambiance of Penny’s novels. I hope they never change narrators for this whole series as for audible listeners he has become one with the author in the telling of these tales.
Book 8- The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
Audible narrator: Ralph Colsham
Like Book 4, A Rule Against Murder, this one takes place outside of Three Pines, in a hidden monastery of a once thought to be extinct (by the Spanish Inquisition centuries ago) sect of Gregorian singing monks. The setting is intriguing as is Penny’s exploration of these ancient chants. It sounds ludicrous as I write it, but it truly works in the typical Chief Inspector Gamache manner. There is the obligatory murder, but also the side plot of tension between Gamache and his superior who shows up unexpectedly and lures away Jean-Guy Beauvoir. As usual, the mystery is satisfyingly solved in the end, but the reader is compelled to the next installment (book 9) by this secondary plot in which we are left anxiously hanging.
Book 9- How The Light Gets In by Louise Penny
Audible narrator: Ralph Colsham
We return to Three Pines and all of its colorful citizens for this one. Although there is a murder with an interesting story and mystery to it, the main plot is around Gamache’s relationship with his now estranged assistant, Lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and with the leaders of the Sûreté de Quebec. Gamache gets wind of a terrorist attack that is planned and needs to find out who all is involved and why. This one is a bit fantastical in its conspiratorial plot, so one has to set reality aside, but for fans of Penny and her characters, it is every bit as enjoyable as the others.
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Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Audible narrator: Merrill Streep
Oh, I SO wanted to like this book, had looked forward to it, waited months for it to become available at my library, and was thrilled when it was chosen by my book club. And read by Merrill Streep? What could be better?(Actually that part was fabulous…as one could imagine, she became the protagonist without the typical distractions that I often have when famous actors narrate– no, she disappears into her art).
So, what went wrong for me? Maybe the pre-publishing hype was just more than any novel can shoulder, but I really think it was more than that. To put it bluntly, I found it boring. The characters were bland, unchanging, and forever un-conflicted. Typically I like fully developed characters with both flaws as well as compellingly admirable traits, who struggle and shift under the pressures of a well-constructed plot that challenges their very essence. Simply put: a character arc propelled by a compelling plot. Unfortunately I found the story dull and unbelievable– a mother relating her history as a young actress with previous boyfriends to her 20-something adult daughters…all three of which are oh-so delightful, un-conflicted, and never a sibling tension between them. And, they are immensely interested in their mother’s life (does that ever happen?), waiting with bated breath to receive the next installment of their mother’s rendition of her brief brush with fame and a somewhat ordinary summer-stock theater in Michigan as they pick cherries in their family orchards.
I did re-watch Our Town as the play has a feature roll in this novel and I highly recommend doing that (available in many renditions on YouTube). And there is likely some very literary parallels to be gleaned from this story and that play. But it just didn’t do enough for me to recommend this book. I finished it because it was a book club choice and because I just couldn’t believe that there wouldn’t ultimately be something more in this highly acclaimed novel.
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The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
Audible narrator: Olivia Vinall
Really? This is the author’s debut novel? Amazing! This well-written family saga that spans from the 1920s through the end of WWII was highly recommended to me while I was perusing the fabulous and highly recommended Gallery Bookshop in the heart of Mendocino, California with its notorious black cat, Edgar. Truly a place not to be missed if you’re in the area.
But back to this wonderful read. Yes, it is long with 576 pages (or 18+ hours on the beautifully read audible version). I typically don’t select a book of this length as I often feel impatient with much more than 350, wanting to move on to another story, place, and cast of characters. But not this time. I was fully engaged in each of the eras this story covers of an upper middle class family in Dorset, England whose estate is both grand and crumbling. It is the focus of social life in Dorset as the mother fashions herself quite the socialite, but then the children build an outdoor theater on the estate, bringing the place back to life.
The point of view is from several family members, all distinct and fascinating, but primarily follows a young precocious Cristabel Seagraves who is a bit of an add-on orphan to the family. Her leadership and creativity is first introduced by the plays and theater she directs with her younger “sibs” (actually 1/2 sister and male cousin, but clearly embraced as siblings by this young girl) and eventually perform for the village. We fall in love with each of these children before they are flung into WWII where Cristabel and her cousin becomes spies for England and eventually join the French resistance. Theater and plays in reality and in literary reference remain a theme throughout this engaging novel, binding the children together into their adulthood, both as an outlet for their creativity as well as their gift to others. This is a stunning debut novel.
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Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
Audible narrator: Jennifer Lim and Justin Chien
I’m a big fan of historical fiction, but I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that is set in a time and place that I know so little about, in fact had little interest in…and yet takes me there immediately and I was delighted go. This book is tightly written and difficult to put down. It quite beautifully describes life for women in the various classes in 15th century China by introducing the reader to characters that are so real and immediate that I felt I knew them personally. It can be disturbing in the ways one would imagine about the subjugation of women. Yet one is also impressed by the alliances, attachments, and even painful betrayals that weave their way through this important novel. This novel is not also for the squeamish, as we learn of the brutality of childbirth traumas, the painful and sometimes deadly binding of women’s feet, or the tragedies when small pox descends upon a community.
There is a fascinating thread of Chinese medicine as practiced during that era by female doctors and midwives as they were the only ones allowed to touch women. This theme of women attending to women is quite powerful, but at the same time, the author does not shy away from the darker side of what happens to an under-class (or in the case a subjugated gender), when everyone is striving just to survive.
But despite the distance of time and place, there is also something fundamental about being female that is the essence of this novel. It led me to contemplate my dearest old female friendships with the clear message that the imperfections that are unavoidable are not evidence of shortcomings, but deepen the attachments as they require us to look into what truly matters. I will be reading other Lisa See books because she not only writes beautifully, but also educates the reader by immersing them into another world in order to understand their own more clearly.
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Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
Audible Narrator: David Colacci
I have to thank my dear friends Terry and Beth for this perfect recommendation. This is the first in the Commissario Brunetti mystery series and although it was written in 1992, it shows no signs of being dated. Why is this a perfect recomendation for me? I just didn’t want to spend time right now in a book that left me anxious, yet unable to turn away, compelling yet disturbing. I was looking for a page-turning mystery that kept me guessing, intregued by the characters as I try to solve the who-done-it, without gore or anxiety, and this is often difficult to find.Yet Donna Leon has mastered that genre perfectly. Additionally, the setting in Venice was delightful as I had just returned from six months in northern Italy with my own interactions with the Questura and other bureaucratic Italian offices.
Like all good mysteries, the death occurs early. We proceed to meet and begin to care about the main characters and start to develop our own theories of the mystery’s solution….and we are appropriately pleased to be wrong and delight at a plot resolution that is both plausible and surprising. What else could one want from this genre. My understanding is that as the series continues, readers become even more engaged with the talented detective, Commissario Brunetti, and I look forward to that.
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Spare by Prince Harry
Audible narrator: Prince Harry
There is no book I’ve ever read that received more unsolicited opinions from friends who had NOT read the book. As soon as a friend asked what I was reading, and the title was out of my mouth, I’d get their opinion about Harry, the royal family, whether it was “proper” for him to speak out, or whether he got the “facts” right. This last argument was particularly interesting to me as none of my friends have any direct contact with the Royal Family and so all of their information comes directly from the media that Prince Harry rails about in regard to their phenomenal inaccuracy and click-bait headlines. Yet folks are sure that they know the “facts.” It’s disappointing to see bright folks parroting what the media feeds us and made me wonder about many such unrelated topics and wonder if I, too, have been guilty of such lemming-like behavior. The truly interesting part was that Harry can be attacked both from those who love the Royals as well as those who are very much against that institution.
This was unfortunate, as I really would’ve rather had a discussion about the book, the life he describes, his narration skills (excellent, I’d say), the theme of individual point of view (always an interesting topic in my 35+ years as a psychiatrist) and the idea that none of our memories are ever exact video-like replicas of events. Our own psychology is always present, and he should be no different. That doesn’t make him wrong, just human. (Sit around any family gathering and you’ll see my point).
For me, I found Prince Harry to be both the victim of, and have the obvious advantages of, the classic “gilded cage,” and don’t think he’d argue with that. But we all know that before going into this book. Nonetheless I learned a lot about this life he led under constant media scrutiny, the impact of the lies that were told about him, the impact of the media on his friends and girlfriends, and the lack of familial protection that the royals have as their perception of their relationship to the crown and their own desires obscures their familial relationships. I also found him surprisingly relatable and kind-hearted. I was not aware of his military accomplishments that are quite impressive, the personal dangers he was in numerous times in Iraq and Afghanistan, nor his relationship to Africa and his extensive philanthropic endeavors. His love for his mother and the effect of her absence is quite clear, as it leads to his need to do everything in his power to protect his wife and children from the paparazzi.
In the end I was left with admiration for much of what he has done, laughs at some of the bonehead errors of his youth, and the hope that he and his family find peace in their lives and can continue their charitable activities for the betterment of the planet.
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La Solitudine Dei Numeri Primi da Paolo Giordano
«I numeri primi sono divisibili soltanto per 1 e per se stessi. Se ne stanno al loro posto nell’infinita serie dei numeri naturali, schiacciati come tutti fra due, ma un passo in là rispetto agli altri. Sono numeri sospettosi e solitari»
Questo è un romanzo complicato e allo stesso tempo semplice. Ci sono due protagonisti tutti e due avevano avuto un trauma da bambini che li ha lasciati soli, separati dagli altri. Si incontrano nell’adolescenza e anche se diventano amici stretti, si conoscono a vicenda in un modo che nessun altro è in grado di capirli, e c’è un tipo di amore molto forte, non possono perseguire un amore più romantico. In questa storia si trovano e si perdono, ma sono attaccati da sempre da loro legame, ma anche dalla sua inevitabile solitudine.
Ciò che trovo straordinario è che l’autore abbia scritto questo importante romanzo mentre conseguiva il dottorato in fisica. Un’impresa non da poco!
Al di là di questo, è una storia che lascia il lettore a riflettere sulla società e sulla vasta gamma di individui che la compongono. Che cosa connota il senso di appartenenza, l’inserimento, ed è raggiungibile o addirittura desiderabile per tutti? Siamo anche liberi di stare fuori, di prosperare e di raggiungere un equilibrio soddisfacente senza gli elementi più tipici?
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King of the Armadillos by Wendy Chin-Tanner
Another fabulous pick from my book club, this time by Stacy. We all, as anyone would, had our skepticism about this topic, but also a strong dose of curiosity. Chin-Tanner succeeds superbly in telling a fascinating story that is so much more than just a coming-of-age tale, although it is that, but set in an era in the USA when Hansen’s Disease (commonly known as Leprosy) was verging on new treatments yet still housing all afflicted in the hospital-campus of Carville in Lousiana.
A young immigrant teen from China finds himself in this frightening predicament, away from family and friends in NYC, away from mom still in China, and yet survives and ultimately flourishes amongst people who love and care for him, exposing him to a world beyond his disease.
As in all good historical fictions, I learned much about this disease and its social, political, and cultural history — much beyond what I had learned in medical school and for that, too, I applaud this talented author.
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If I Betray These Words by Wendy Dean, M.D. with Simon Talbot, M.D.
Audible narrator: Wendy Dean, M.D.
After spending the past 3 1/2 years volunteering for the Physician Support Line (created at the beginning of the pandemic), I found this book to be an essential read for anyone concerned about the current state of medicine in the US. Dr. Dean interviewed amazingly impressive physicians in her pursuit of understanding and articulating the moral injury to devoted docs by systemic and financially driven pressures (that predated the pandemic), the results of which should trouble the rest of us as profit is put before patients and docs are seen as “profit generating units” in both for-profit and many supposedly non-profit systems. In the midst of reading this book I received a call from a young surgeon whose story could’ve easily been included in Dean’s book. These stories are real, and all too frequent. Fortunately, Dean also provides answers for righting a system that has been heading in the wrong direction for far too long, but takes the courage to follow an ethical and moral compass despite the well funded roadblocks– meaning many docs will have to opt out of the usual available positions, others will do what they can within the few systems that listen to the practicing physicians to insure patients’ needs are put first, and many fights will be fought in the courts. She outlines why the current trends are dangerous for docs and patients alike, and drastic change is necessary.
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Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Audible narrator: Marin Ireland and Michael Urie
First, I very much enjoyed this book. Our book club was looking for a soft, non-agitating summer read and this fit the bill. Typically I find talking animals ridiculous and hard to get past, but I was truly fond of Marcellus, the octopus, whose voice was read perfectly on Audible with just the right amount of snark and a resigned impatience with the banality of humans.
And two main stories were compelling and endearing. It was predictable that they would come together (otherwise why the two?) and yet that predictability was not boring, but made me want to continue to follow how it all came together. The young male character is like so many from troubled pasts–bright yet self-depreciating and self-sabotaging as he searches for meaning in his life. The older female is quite appealing, but is also searching and when their paths cross, aided by the insights of an observing octopus. Fun and light.
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Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us by Rachel Aviv
“What can a psychiatrist say to an alienated Sisyphus as he pushes the boulder up the mountain? That he’d push the boulder more enthusiastically, more creatively, more insightfully if he were on Prozac?”
This is one of the most difficult books I’ve tried to review. Typically I read fiction, but this nonfiction about psychiatry and mental illness was recommended by my son who teaches at UCSF School of Medicine, we are both psychiatrists, and he and I often discuss the philosophical implications of our work, so it was a perfect recommendation.
Aviv intersperses a well researched history of modern psychiatry and psychiatric theories within very separate, distinct, and interesting case studies. What is particularly striking about the perspectives she presents, is that Aviv recognizes that strict adherence to any particular theory runs the risk of not “seeing” the entire person and the complexities of the individual’s situation. She shows that often these theories are dichotomized into either biologic (brain chemistry necessitating medication management) or psychologic (intra-personal or inter-personal requiring psychoanalysis, supportive, interpersonal and other dynamic or cognitive therapies). But this is not an indictment of modern psychiatry, but rather an assessment of how these interpretations of suffering can be validating for some, but extremely harmful to others.
But what I’ve described is only some of the many themes addressed in this book and I cannot name them all. But I’d like to mention that we were also struck by how well she addresses the absence in much of modern psychiatry/psychology thinking of cultural, systemic, and socio-economic influences on mental suffering (a topic we find extremely important).
Although I found that some of the stories seemed to drag at times, I am aware from others’ reviews of this book that different case studies resonated (or dragged) with different readers. Nonetheless, I found this a very thought provoking read and appreciate this author’s research and willingness to write such a revealing book.
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Il Sogno Della Macchina Da Cucire by Bianca Pitzorno
Un libro sottile, delicato, eppure profondo.
Una ragazzina viene allevata e istruita dalla nonna sarta sull’isola di Sardegna, in Italia, dopo che l’epidemia di colera dei primi del Novecento ha ucciso il resto della famiglia. È la storia della lealtà, delle amicizie, della devozione, del duro lavoro e delle complicate relazioni richieste dalle differenze di classe.
Ho apprezzato molto questo libro, scritto in modo splendido, che ho letto nell’originale italiano, ma sono sicura che sia altrettanto meraviglioso in inglese.
The Seamstress of Sardinia by Bianca Pitzorno
A subtle, gentle, and yet profound book.
A young girl is raised and taught a trade by her grandmother, a seamstress on the island of Sardinia, Italy, after the Cholera epidemic in the early 1900s has killed the rest of their family. It is the story of loyalty, friendships, devotion, hard-work and the complicated relationships demanded by class differences.
I thoroughly enjoyed this beautifully written book that I read in the original Italian, but am sure it is equally wonderful in English
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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Oh how I wanted to enjoy this book ! I know it has gotten lots of attention, and at times I found it fun and clever, but for the most part it seemed shallow and full of awful stereotypes. Clearly the author had done some research (and I heard an interview in which she used chemistry books from 1959 to discuss relevant understandings for that era), but it was also clear that she had never spent much time around actual scientists or labs. Therefore the characters were annoyingly cartoonish (seriously? a chemist/TV cooking host refers to ordinary kitchen ingredients by their chemical names?…cringe-worthy). In fact, it promotes the very stereotypes of men and women in the sciences that it purports to object to and therefore does a great disservice to all.
Quirky, socially awkward, but brilliant protagonists can be fun (although possibly that newness has passed its time), but this one was over the top…characters include a preschooler who knows the periodic table and reads serious adult literature in kindergarten, a young male scientist whose work is unclear at a second rate non-academic lab, but has been nominated for numerous Noble prizes (does the author have any idea about that process?), a female chemist who somehow got into a graduate program in chemistry at UCLA without a college degree and although not athletic, becomes a competitive rower against large men by reading physics books, and a dog who understands >400 spoken words. Another central woman in this novel is catty, competitive and spends her time seeking men’s approval (don’t think we’re breaking through any stereotypes here) and most of the men are incompetent dolts who either can’t do the science they are employed to do on their own.steal other people’s work, are either misogynists at best, and rapists at worse. The idea that the only way we can show a women to be successful and rise above gender prejudice is to be condescending to those around her is disappointing to say the least. Again, I got a few good laughs and I understand it may be made into a TV series, so clearly I may be in the minority here.
As someone who has spent her entire career in medicine and science starting in the ’70s , and around many women mentors who earned their degrees in the ’50s and ’60s, I can attest to the inherent and very real gender bias of those times and frankly of the present. But the idea that women have to be super-human and socially alienated to succeed is both untrue and harmful.
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This Must Be The Place by Maggie O’Farrell
Although not a masterpiece, I very much enjoyed this book. The writing was smooth and enjoyable, the characters believable, flawed, relatable, and complex with their passions and their secrets.
It is a story of a complex family, a modern family, with children from previous relationships integrated with current offspring, complex adults trying to escape their past and yet begin anew. The author does a suburb job of bringing the reader into the characters’ struggles and despite these characters having very different lives from most of use, their struggles are nonetheless quite human and cause the reader to think beyond the story. Well done.
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Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
Audible narrator: Katharine Lee McEwan
I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction that was well-written and researched. I have have read the occasional criticism that it has focused too closely on the lives of the white colonists and not on the havoc they reeked on the Africans during this era and beyond. It is true that this is more novel than history book, but to tell Beryl Markham’s story, one would have to see the world from her (fictionalized) perspective and in that I think the author does a marvelous job of taking us there. Like all good novels, especially those based on actual persons, her characters are often as terribly flawed as they are brilliant, and there was more than one time that the reader will want to scream at the young Markham to not go on whatever seemingly hair-brained dangerous journey she intends to embark upon, or crawl into bed with yet one more controlling man and lose herself in a clearly soon to be doomed relationship. And yet, the writing and the characters are compelling to the end. The only question that I am left with is whether to next read McLain’s acclaimed best-seller The Paris Wife, or the real Markham’s memoir, West With The Night, but both should be in my future.
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The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
Audible narrators: MacLeod Andrews and Julia Whelan
The prose and literary brilliance of Cormac McCarthy are quite present in this novel, written by an author at 89 years old who is said to be one of the most brilliant American literary authors of our time.
Nonetheless, I have trouble with plots that leave so much unanswered and was frustrated at the end. Maybe that is McCarthy’s point as he ponders in his typical erudite way about the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life. His men are complicated, morose, very traditionally masculine, down-trodden, and articulate, and therefore despite the frustrations of the plot, I found myself engrossed in their thoughts and conversations. I have to admit though that I tire of women being defined and valued by their appearances. Sure, the sister, the female protagonist, is also brilliant and her thoughts and philosophical struggles were intriguing as well. But her beauty still seems to be a necessary upfront and center part of her value. I’ve read other reviewers that struggled with her psychosis (she has schizophrenia and many of her conversations are with hallucinations) but I found that part to be quite interesting and challenge the reader to see hallucinated entities as split off parts of self or of the self’s fears. Ultimately, I was glad to have read this and may read the recently released sequel Stella Maris…not sure, need to sit with this.
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Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
Audible narrators: Julia Whelan and Edoardo Ballerini
So, despite my statement above about needing to sit with The Passenger before moving on to the sequel, Stella Maris, I found myself delving immediately right in. I needed to see where this was going, or understand where it had been. Some quotes can give a clear picture of the tone of Stella Maris:
~ “When all trace of our existence is gone, for whom then will this be a tragedy?”
~“Rage is only for what you believe can be fixed. All the rest is grief.
~“The world has created no living thing that it does not intend to destroy.”
~“I gave up apologizing for myself a long time ago. What should I say? That I’m sorry to be that which I am?”
As you can see, a feel-good book this is not. The entire book, which is admittedly short at 208 pages or 5 hours on audible, is a set of conversations between Alice (also called Alicia) and her psychiatrist in a facility called Stella Maris. She is brilliant, melancholic, erudite, and philosophical, intermixed with physics and mathematics. She pontificates on a wide variety of topics which might be boiled down to the meaning of existence, and at the same time questions the idea of a shared perception of existence. McCarthy is clearly a literary giant. I listened to these fabulous narrators and found myself swimming in an impossible mind. I now want to take it slower in print.
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The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Audible narrator: Ken Liu
This book and its series was highly recommended to me by my sons who are sci-fi enthusiasts, so when it was chosen by my book group I was all in. After finishing, I realized that this could be one of the hardest books to review. The world building was excellent and original, incorporating math and physics in a way that I both enjoyed at times and found tedious at others, and made quite real the struggles involved for scientists during the Chinese Revolution. It challenges one to confront the philosophical issues of individualism versus the needs of societal survival. But I found the characters difficult to care about and don’t know if this is a language translation issue, cultural issue, or just not what the author was aiming for and his focus was grander than the individuals. Nonetheless, my son tells me the second in the series, The Dark Forest, is fabulous and so I may give that a try and see if it sorts out better for me. I’m also curious to see the Netflix series and wonder if American writers will do something more engaging with the characters.
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The Searcher by Tana French
Audible narrator: Roger Clark
Yes, another Tana French mystery for me. I just can’t get enough of Tana French, and although this wasn’t my favorite of hers, it was definitely worth the read. Of course one doesn’t expect great literature from a mystery, but her writing is captivating and sustains my interest in her characters and plot. This one, released in 2020, is not part of her Dublin Murder series (which I loved) so the characters are not related to those previous novels. The main character is a retired Chicago police detective who has moved to rural Ireland for peace and quiet– he is looking to close the door on his gritty and intense life as cop. As one might predict, trouble and mystery find this bright and observing detective who discovers that his quiet little town has dangerous secrets and a child he befriends is in great need for his help. The child, by the way, is truly a fabulous character. The Searcher has a slow start, but ultimately delivers in the typical Tana French fashion.
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The Winners by Fredrik Backman
Audible narrator: Marin Ireland
This is the 3rd in Beartown series by the fabulous author of A Man Called Ove and Anxious People (all reviewed and recommended on this blog) and this one doesn’t disappoint. In fact, I loved being immersed again with these characters 2 years after the last installment as Backman beautifully explores topics of friendship, loyalty, loss, and identity in this small, tight, and complex community that orients itself around hockey, their surrounding wilderness, and the bonds that allow these folks to not just survive, but thrive in the harsh environment of northern Sweden. I particularly loved the way Backman writes about the difficulties of knowing oneself as an emerging adult, suffers the disappointments, and then focuses on what truly matters to each character involved. I think I could easily enjoy reading the whole series again, or better yet, listen to the sassy and fabulous narration of Marin Ireland (she reads all three in this series).
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The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
Another wonderful book by Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway is reminiscent of Mark Twains view of young, bright teenage characters and their adventures. Like Twain’s, his characters are not all-good, nor all-bad, but are compelling and exude a lust for life that is inspiring.
Our main characters are 3 young men who have just gotten out (or escaped) reform school as well as the precocious 8 year old brother of one of these teens. They have very different personalities and goals which get intertwined, converge at times, and mostly conflict. We route for each of them as they struggle to make their lives not just work, but be extraordinary. One very interesting part for me was the way in which the author would at times revisit a given event through the eyes of different characters– quite fascinating.
Many of the minor characters were also wonderful. I especially liked Sally and re-read her first chapter several times– a must read!
Additionally, one character’s ability to justify his actions that would seem outrageous from the outside was very well done as the reader gets pulled into this flawed, but lovable young man. I highly recommend this book, not just for the story and characters, but for Towles’ fabulous writing (as seen in his previous 2 books: Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow– both of which I think I enjoyed more that this one). Actually, I recommend them all.
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Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Narrated by: Both authors as well as Carrie Coon, Key Taw, and Jennifer Finn
In typical Picoult style, we are given a wonderful story, rich with relatable and yet at times mysterious characters who find themselves having to negotiate an unimaginable event. We delve deep into their doubts, their fears, their devotions. Also what is typical of Picoult is that the story takes on a social, if not somewhat moral, theme. She does this extremely well.
This theme is about gender, gender-identity, and acceptance. It is written from 2 perspectives with alternating chapters. In the Afterward, Picoult explains that the writing was split between herself and Boylan who is transgender herself, but most importantly is also a fabulous writer who handles the subject matter with aplomb, not overly dramatic or too heavy handed, just how it is from the inside. I have not (yet) read Boylan’s much acclaimed book, She’s Not There, but now have it on my too-read list. Picoult wrote from the perspective of a mother of a teen-age boy and Boylan from the perspective of his teenage girlfriend. They tell the story together, Picoult chronologically, Boylan moves time backwards. Sounds confusing? It’s not. Very clear and masterfully done. Apparently, they also wrote of the ‘other’s’ chapters, but this is not discernible.
If you go for this kind of thing– a compelling story with deep characters who dance right onto the dance floor of difficult social issues, this one’s for you.
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The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
Audible narrator: Marisa Tomei
But beyond that, I was not as taken by this novel as I had been with her Neapolitan Series. Maybe it is hard to repeat such brilliance. I just had a hard time finding any of the central characters likable, and more frequently found them despicable, chaotic, and sometimes repulsive. That being said, there are some tremendous themes here. The inevitable disillusionment as the main character moves from a childhood idealization of her parents to the realities that she finds as a teen. The plot is also wonderfully explores numerous triadic relationships that complicate one’s sense of right and wrong, one’s ability to fully attach and feel safe, and continuously question one’s understanding of what had previously been accepted as hard stop truths. In this way, Ferrante is her brilliant self as a writer. I just wish I’d been able to like more of the characters and been invested in their process as opposed by often being repulsed by it.
Let’s start with the wonderful narration by Marisa Tomei. Typically I don’t like listening to books by actors that I know through their film work (see The Dutch House narrated by Tom Hanks below), but Tomei does NOT over act this, but rather she reads it beautifully. The character of the book is an Italian adolescent and I can’t imagine anyone doing it better than Tomei in the sense that the reader/listener melts into this character’s personality and perspective without giving a thought to this fabulous actress. Bravo!
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This Is Happiness by Niall Williams
Audible narrator: Dermot Crowley
Charming and touching, this literary novel is told through the memories of an elderly Noe Crowe about the summer he spent in 1958 at 17 years old with his grandparents in rural Ireland after the death of his mother. This voice, of an older and wiser man, of the observations and experiences of his late-teenage self, is masterfully executed with compassion and without judgment. It is full of nostalgia and innocence, earnestness, religious resistance and engagement, and small town struggles with the hardships of life and the inevitability of death, but mostly it is a story of love– first loves, lost loves, unrequited loves, loves that demand forgiveness, and the deep love that comes after decades of surviving hardships together and hardly looking like love is involved at all.
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Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Audible narrator: Rebecca Lowman
Literary and Historical Fiction just doesn’t get better. This will definitely rate as one of my all-time favorites, so much so that after finishing, I wanted to immediately turn around and read it again. Set in late 1930s New York City, we follow a smart, witty, young protagonist with razor-sharp perception of others. Although she comes from working class NYC, she is educated, unpretentious, wickedly observant, and able to “pass” with the upper crust without compromising herself or immersing in the enthralled awe that is often (and stereotypically so) seen in such class jumping characters. Not so with Towles debut novel. He has written these characters with such depth and complexity that the reader feels present in every interaction, unable to look away, even during the periodic train wrecks. The writing is witty, jazzy, and snappy– a joy to immerse oneself in.
The title comes from the real life writing of a young George Washington, a long list of rules to live by if one wants to enter the manicured word of the elite. But what one sees is that following those rules creates an appearance of gentrification, fine taste and behavior, but does not always lead to ethical decency. That is not to say that this book is about morality, it is not. It is more observational than judgmental and leaves the reader much to ponder. What could be better?
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The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
My summary is: well-written but frustrating. There are lots of characters that pull the reader in, then they are dropped, die, or are left behind for large chunks of the book. My other frustration is the lack of any character arc. Full-disclosure: I’m a big fan of character arcs in which some interesting plot events or revelations weigh heavily on a character (and sometimes even the reader) such that change, or self re-examination, or difficult choices are required. Shifts are made. The character (as well as the reader) struggle to incorporate new thoughts into one’s original beliefs.
This book, as I said, is well-written. The characters are well-described and interesting. One wants to continue. My complaint is that there are many plot lines, all interesting, yet no one really changes as a result of these events. The only theme that gets exposed is of ‘knowing, yet not knowing’ in reference to being aware of illegal/immoral events, yet playing along for other reasons…but that is a brief piece and not central (could have been– I would have liked that). But in The Glass Hotel the characters either carry on as they were, unchanged, or die. So, if looking for a book in which “stuff happens” in a well-written way, this is for you. If looking for something that shifts one’s way of thinking, or you observe the shifting in others (the characters), then this may not be your cup of tea.
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Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Narrated by Caroline Lee
Moriarty writes fun plots and this one is a family drama set in Sydney, Australia with her usual cleverness. What I truly love is a mystery without horror or angst! The family is a “tennis family” in all manners– competitive, perfectionistic, attempts to focus forward and yet, as all good athletes know, that is easier said than done. This family owns a tennis club/school and the four adult children have all the trappings of being excellent players, but not good enough for Wimbledon, or possibly not good enough for their coach-dad. So, when their mother (who is the center of all things family) goes missing, after having let a strange young woman into her and her husband’s home, much unravels-their alliances, competitions, love, devotion, and their sense of family unit get tested.
What is truly impressive about this writing is how each character is so well-differentiated. All four adult children have clear differences of personality, yet it is absolutely believable that they were raised in the same household by these interesting parents. The stranger, too, who is within the age of their children, is also quite separate, interesting, and appropriately as creepy as she is psychologically attractive.
The other poignant part of Moriarty’s writing is that the writing and the characters themselves are all smart, even if flawed. They make the reader ponder without struggle. This is truly a fun read and superbly read in audible by Caroline Lee.
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The Leavers by Lisa Ko
I was amazed to discover this is Lisa Ko’s debut novel. How can that be? Each and every character has a depth, complexity, and believability that is unsurpassed. Within the NYC setting of immigration, poverty, and a teenage pregnancy, our protagonists struggle with racial discrimination, fears of and the reality of exportation, abandonment, estrangement, alienation, and forgiveness.
Ko’s youngest protagonist, Deming, is left to try to understand who he is in the complex world he lives in. Is he the suddenly and mysteriously abandoned Chinese-American living in NYC with hard-working immigrant adults and a best-friend “cousin” with whom he can be himself, or is he the suburban adopted son of two white professors who are loving and well-meaning, yet oblivious to their racial micro-aggressions? Deming fits nowhere well, and is compelled to try to find a comfortable place and way of existing within this estrangement. He suffers throughout from not understanding the sudden disappearance of his mother, Polly, with whom he was so close as a young boy, and can only attach to his new family if he concludes she left him because she wanted to, she preferred it this way–yet it never sits quite right for him.
Polly’s story is equally compelling and thought-provoking. At times I wanted to scream out: “just say your truth, he needs to understand!” But as the story continues, the reasons for her necessary silence become clear as does the pain of leaving a child and having him raised by someone else so far away. I can’t imagine.
The theme of belonging, or not, is strong in many of our protagonists. Who belongs where and with whom? What does it mean to be left behind– either literally, or within a culture and language that is not fully your own. This book took me far out of my own experiences in life–something that can be so rewarding about literature, especially well-written literature like this novel. It is another book club favorite, as Ko’s The Leavers touches many themes for a lively and provocative discussion.
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The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
This intense and thought-provoking novel has taken me awhile to review. I needed to sit with my thoughts and reactions. It is not a book for the faint of heart, but what novel about the holocaust could be? Yet much of what we read is about the big picture and the horrendously large numbers such that one can be numbed by their sheer enormity. Picoult does not let us do this. In this novel we experience her usual talent at taking the reader to places that are uncomfortable and making them personal, making them vivid. In fact, at one point, I wasn’t sure I could continue as we heard the first hand account of a young girl’s story with the Nazis, the grandmother of Sage, our protagonist. Yet I knew this was vital for the story, vital for me to understand and to set up Sage’s complex friendship she develops with an elderly man from her grief group. A man who she later comes to find out had been an important SS officer during the war…and he asks that Sage help him die. Every bit as complicated is Sage’s relationship with her physical self (scarred by a deadly car accident), her sense of shame and needing to hide herself as a result, her confusion at the way her elderly friend makes her feel comfortable in her own skin and yet abhorred by his past, and the subsequent relationship she develops with the FBI agent with whom she works. Like most of Picoult’s books, this one is not easy. I’m glad I read it.
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All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki
Chosen by my book group, this was a wonderful read. Ozeki has a way with words and even the unlikeable, flawed characters command a certain curiosity in the reader, you really want to find out what happens. My only criticism is that some of the minor characters (looking at you, Duncan) are a bit too over the top in a characterization of a certain type.
This is a story of a young woman who has become estranged from her parents after running away at 14 y.o., who ultimately managed to get an education, but has had 3 children from 3 different men, when she is contacted by her childhood best friend to return from Hawaii to her home town in Idaho to care for her aging potato farming parents. It is a story of her attempts at redemption and at the same time her self-hate for needing it. Then, along come a group of environmental activists traveling in a winnebago who have deemed her father to be their guru against genetically modified vegetables. The story has twists, and although most (but not all) are quite predictable, the writing compels one to find out how things progress with these interesting characters. The book got a thumbs up from my book group of varying tastes, and therefore I can whole heartedly recommend it to others.
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Mimicking Heaven By Day by Ron White
First, I need to thank the author for supplying me his wonderful novel. Full disclosure– we grew up in the same area of LA county and went to the same public schools near where this novel takes place. So, when I think of reviewing a book, I ask myself– given the plethora of books available to read, why spend time with this one? What sets this novel apart?
For me, this is clear. White has written a novel with a delightful plot and excellent writing, something that many writers might do, but what sets this novel apart is setting and context. White has done not only an exquisite job of immersing the reader in a time and place, but his research into the laws and culture of the time (post WWII, Los Angeles) is enlightening and eye-opening. We can easily forget (or at least I can) how things used to be, and even if those facts are uncomfortable, they are important to know. White’s appendices that show the background laws and references to a whole variety of events of those times are extremely interesting, well researched, and show the validity of his fictional story. It is unfortunate that some of the concerns that get raised in this historical fiction play out every bit, if not more, in modern times.
So, in summary, White has given the reader the opportunity to immerse themselves in a specific time and place that is very important to US history through the use of a wonderful fictional story.
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The Witch Elm by Tana French
Character and the human mind are complicated, and no one knows that better than author Tana French. The Witch Elm is written in first person POV from the perspective of an increasingly unreliable narrator. At first, when all is going well, Toby is adorable…but maybe we all are when things are going well and even bumps in the road are smoothed out by privilege. But as this compelling plot proceeds, we get to the darker areas of Toby’s mind and his past. Other characters, as well, shift in our understanding and therefore French challenges the curious reader to explore our own sense of self and how it is impacted by circumstance and luck, more than innate character.
The most interesting part for me was that a traumatic brain injury rendered the protagonist unsure of his own reliability in both his memories as well as certainty of current emotions. We wondered with him, questioning moments of paranoia and uncertainty of who is trustworthy.
Did I like this one? I am a Tana French fan and am always driven to complete her books, to understand the mystery, and to absorb myself in her delightful writing, even when the story or characters might cause considerable discomfort. So, for me, I will continue on to her next new novel, The Searcher.
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The Dublin Murder Squad Mysteries by Tana French
I will add reviews as I go through this series. I started with #2, The Likeness, as it had been chosen by my book club. So, first thing to know is that it is a wonderful stand-alone novel and #1 does not need to be read first. One does, however need to get beyond a bit of a plot requirement– namely, that two people could look so alike that even those people very close to them would not be able to tell them apart. This is a big jump in reality. But, if you can make that jump, the story, the writing, the characters, are all well-worth this page turner! The central plot of this one engages themes of friendship, loyalty, and a good sprinkling of narcissism. I loved it so much, that I decided to keep going in this series.
As #1 was not available in my library, I jumped to #3, Faithful Place. French does an interesting thing in that she follows one main protagonist in her book, and in the next in the series, it follows another character’s story, someone who had been in the previous book, but wasn’t front and center. However, and I very much like this, she does not go back in time to fill in this character, but instead throws them into another mystery plot and any movement back in time is placed only when the plot requires it. The central themes in this one involve the complex relationships within difficult families and the choices that get made for the self versus the whole. I will continue my reviews as I make my way through the series (but book club and author-friend’s novels that I must get to, may get in the way, so there will be a time break).
Now back to #1, In The Woods— this is where Tana French made her big splash, and there’s no wonder why. Like her other Dublin Murder Squad books, her writing is different from the usual fast-paced, plot-only driven mystery. She is much more literary with her, writing, her descriptions, and character development. So, if fast-paced plots are what you are looking for, you’ll get frustrated. But if you’re more like the many readers who have enjoyed French’s writing and want more than just a who-done-it, and prefer to ponder the more philosophical questions along the way, this one is for you.
Dublin Murder Squad book #4– Broken Harbor. I’m not sure how French does it. She is able to beautifully take us to places and into the minds of very different characters in each of these books and Broken Harbor is no different. In this one, and as a psychiatrist, I was especially impressed with the way she dealt with mental illness, particularly as it related to different characters each with their own specific type of disorder that dispels some of the typical stereotypes and tropes. Well done.
Dublin Murder Squad book #5–The Secret Place. I’m a bit mixed on this one. First, the setting was excellent in the sense that it is very different from others in this series. We find ourselves in an all-girls boarding school which is next to an all-boys school. This creates the expected romance intrigues and competitions between girl groups. The setting is fabulous. There are LOTS of characters that take some time to be sorted out, but that actually happens if you stick with it. There is also a book of back and forth time sequence, so if that is not your thing, you’ll get dizzy with this one. My least favorite part of this book is the question of magic vs delusion or (cough) girl hysteria…not my cup of tea. However, French’s writing is fun and compelling. Couldn’t put it down.
Dublin Murder Squad book #6–The Trespasser. Prior to starting this one I worried that French might have run out of steam as this series continued. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Why? For all of the usual Tana French reasons– I loved being in the head of these flawed, but intriguing characters as they struggle with their own personal demons to sort out a convoluted mystery and use their exquisite talents to understand the complex internal world of witnesses, victims, and murders. This ended up being one of my favorite of the group and now I’ll definitely move on to her more recent stand alone books. Again, her style of character development, snappy dialogue, and intrigue go far past the usual mystery.
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The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
The ‘what-ifs’ can be devastating, especially as it relates to WWII and Philip Roth has done an outstanding job of walking this through in a unique way– through the eyes of a pre-pubescent Jewish American boy. This was written in 2005, and much before many of us (call me naive) would have fathomed the idea that fascism would be so attractive in the US. Now, this book almost seems to0 soft in light of current politics. A great read in current times.
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The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Narrated by Don Leslie
Not all Science Fiction survives the test of time. This classic was published in 1974, so when chosen by my book club I had a vague recollection of having read it decades ago, liking it, but the details were lost and I feared that it would seem dated. Not at all. The philosophy that Le Guin demonstrates so brilliantly in this captivating story is as relevant today as it was in the 1970s. I was very pleased to find myself inthralled in this novel once again and highly recommend it. I also recommend reading this one with a friend (or a willing book club) as the ideas swim around needing to be discussed and debated.
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The 1619 Project created by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Narrated by the authors of each chapter/topic
This book expands on the award-winning New York Times Magazine issue by the same name that reframes our understanding of US history by placing slavery and its continued legacy front and center. I did not read the original NY Times Magazine issue, and therefore was both thrilled and daunted when this book was chosen by my book club.
In the end, I felt that everyone in America should read this book. First and foremost, the black story in America needs to be told, taken in, and understood. We cannot be afraid to look closely at our past as the continued minimizing (at best) and opportunistic distortion (at worst) only serve to continue the atrocities and show us to be cowards. We need to own our past in order to move in a better direction. The more mundane reason that I found this book intriguing is that I learned so many, many things. I will not do this book the injustice of trying to name a few…just read it.
The reaction of the book club (and others that I’ve seen) was to feel depressed at the contrast to an idealized America, an America that one can always be proud of. I felt on the contrary that I can only be proud of an America that is not afraid to look squarely at its dark past and is ready to acknowledge its current continued practices that run counter to democracy and justice. It is only in this way that I think we’ll truly reach our ideals.
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The Story of More by Hope Jahren
Narrated by the author, Hope Jahren
This passionate, science-based book about climate change, the declining number of species, and a variety of ways we humans are negatively impacting our planet and its future, is written with a combination of data and interesting, nostalgic stories about the author’s childhood in rural Minnesota. She was born in 1969 and shows the many changes that have happened in her lifetime. She is an accomplished academic scientist, but writes for the rest of us. Although she reads this very well in the audible format, I think that to take in all the information, it might be easier to remember if one read it on the printed page. I also might recommend reading each chapter (there are 19), then stepping away and letting the information sink in…maybe even write down a few key points from each chapter that really seem relevant to you, as the reader. Otherwise there is a lot of information to try absorb and it can get muddled.
I have also read Jahren’s Lab Girl (see review below) which I very much enjoyed and is more of a narrative memoir. The Story of More takes on various very serious topics as to how humans have changed the face of the planet, the destruction we have caused, some irreparable, and ends with some suggestions for us all.
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The Huntress by Kate Quinn
For lovers of historical fiction this is a great find. Like The Alice Network, Quinn is elegant and describing the role women play in war. This one is about an ex-Russian pilot, who teams up with a British journalist to find “the huntress,” a Nazi war criminal hiding in a new identity in the USA. I particularly enjoyed Quinn’s descriptions of the Night Witches, an all-female bomber regiment that was very successful against Germany. Great historical information with a fabulous plot and compelling characters.
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Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
I really, really, really recommend this one. Colson’s novel was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as: “fast-paced, keen-eyed and very funny … about race, power and the history of Harlem all disguised as a thrill-ride crime novel.” I could not agree more. The brilliance with which Colson intertwines a sense of place– a strong and tight Harlem community, even if sometimes conflicted, but always loyal– with racial issues as true today as the ’60s in which this takes place, and with humor! Truly a brilliant read. I advise this to all, no exceptions.
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The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
Narrated by: Madeleine Maby
Many accolades are given this historical fiction that deals with a network of French resistors to the Nazis in WWII. Specifically, and most interestingly, it describes the ever-changing but meticulous process of those engaged in forging papers to help Jewish adults and children cross the French borders into Switzerland as the Germans were occupying France and deporting the Jews to concentration camps or executing them on site. This part of the story I found fascinating and kept me engaged to the last page.
The parts I struggled with was the writing and the depiction of some of the main characters. First, the writing seemed to be simplistic as is often seen (also unfortunately) in young adult fiction. There is too much telling, and not enough showing– often explaining feelings in an exaggerated black and white, very un-nuanced way, that bordered on unrealistic naivety on the part of characters in such a horrendous situation. Second, some of the characters were cliches that I found bothersome…the friendly young German soldier that helps the resistance was one, but the more egregious was the stereotypic and unlikeable mother of the protagonist. This mother, despite thinking she has lost the love of her life when her husband is taken to a concentration camp, is cruel, critical, and immature when it comes to her adult daughter’s forgery work that is crucial in helping Jewish children escape an unimaginable fate. This mother living in danger in a small French town, is more focused on trying to get her daughter married to “a nice Jewish boy,” and only at the last moments of her life, inexplicably is reported to be proud of her daughter’s work. I saw one reviewer raise the concern that this “Jewish mother trope,” borders on anti-semitism and reflects a kind of nativity of the author and I have to admit there is something to this concern.
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Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
This Pulitzer Prize winning novel is very interesting in many ways. The chapters were originally published as short stories in various magazines, then collected for this book. So, if read as a novel as it is currently sold, it is sometimes annoying that the author re-explains roles or physical characteristics of characters that are already known to the reader from previous chapters. Nonetheless this collection of short stories (or group of chapters) involve the same characters who live in the well-described small town of Crosby, Maine. There is no denying that Strout is a fabulous writer and her depiction of characters is realistic and relatable, if sometimes a bit harsh and uncomfortable to watch. She writes the realities of life, full of complex emotions, ugly judgments, and deep connections that can be messy within and between families in a small town. If a reader is looking for an inspirational, feel-good novel, this isn’t it. But I look forward to the next book in this series.
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Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Narrated by Dominic Hoffman
After numerous trusted friends recommended this book, I finally picked it up. I think I had initially found the title strange and a bit off-putting, so I delayed. That was a mistake. This is a fabulous read. There are so many characters, at first seemingly too many, often with several names or nicknames each, yet it doesn’t matter. In fact some are part of the setting, a character’s backstory is a description of the scene itself. All of this provides the richness and depth of a fiscally impoverished neighborhood and its church in 1969 New York City. It is both gritty, sometimes violent, tender, and truly hilarious. How does McBride carry that off? Masterfully. He interweaves alliances, loyalties, and deep connections in the most unpredictable moments. Disapproval is juxtaposed with tolerance. It is a story of community love.
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Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Read on audible by Adam Lazarre-White
How to review a classic like Baldwin’s 1953 semi-autobiographic first novel? There is no question why this is a classic. Baldwin offered an important voice to the civil rights movements of the 50’s and 60’s. He is brilliant and articulate in his description of racism in America and the struggles that occurred in the neighborhoods of Harlem. This is the story of a 14 year old step-son of a harsh, unforgiving, and demanding minister of a storefront pentecostal church in 1935. We are taken into the life of Baldwin’s young protagonist. We are engrossed in his spiritual, sexual, and moral struggles and his ultimate realization that there is no escape from the choice between church and jail.
This book is not plot driven. It is not fast-paced, nor a page-turner. So know what you’re getting into when you pick this one up. In fact, it is common to need to put it down for periods of time, to escape the heaviness and oppression. Although short, it is a difficult read. Yet throughout you have the sense that you are witnessing something important in this experience. Did I like it? Not sure. Maybe the wrong question. I’m glad I read it, and I’m glad it’s over.
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Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Narrated by Dan Butler
After struggling a bit with Go Tell It on the Mountain, I decided to delve into Baldwin’s 1956 novel of a young man struggling between desire and his sense of morality. Gone was the heavy oppressiveness of pentecostal religion, so well described in Go Tell It on the Mountain, but difficult to absorb oneself in for long, and in its place, Giovanni’s Room brings into the internal struggle of this complex protagonist. The setting couldn’t be more alluring. We are placed in the gritty 1950’s neighborhoods of Paris, amongst expats, homosexuals, the bar crowd, and their liaisons full of conflicted alliances and violence. The characters could not be more present and illicit an intense visceral connection. The plot is compelling in the way that you cannot avert your eyes from a car accident on the side of the road. Yet unlike that image I find myself wanting to return, to read it again, to immerse myself in those scenes and know that in a second read, I will take more in. Highly recommended, but not a light read.
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One Two Three by Laurie Frankel
Narrated by Emma Galvin, Jesse Vilinsky, and Rebecca Soler
I choose this book for my book club because I loved Frankel’s This Is How It Always Is (see my review below, truly a great read). Unfortunately, about half way through this one, I felt the urge to send an apology email to the book club members. For me, it just wasn’t the quality of her earlier book. Frankel is known for wanting to show the world heroic characters who are different, which I admire. But One Two Three is more of the worst characteristics of some young adult literature in which authors seem to want to lecture the reader about how different can also be special in glorious ways– okay, we get it. It becomes so fantastical at the end when…(spoiler!) three young teenage triplet girls, one who is quite disabled in a wheelchair, somehow manage without any experience to use a backhoe and its jackhammer attachment to destroy a dam for environmental reasons. Another problem I had with this story is with the adults. Their town and their offspring had been totally destroyed by a chemical company. And yet, when that same company wants to return, they roll over, despite the devastation they all agree this company has caused them. I just found it unbelievable and frustrating, almost cartoonish with the teens saving the day with extraordinary feats. I can’t recommend it.
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A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson
Narrated by Tajja Isen
This was an interesting and engaging story, written from three character perspectives, each with their own distinct voice. Themes include innocent awakenings and frustrations, grief, regrets, and coming to terms with one’s history and self. It is the coming together of three characters as they navigate three very different stages of life– childhood, young adulthood, and the end of life. This was read in my book club and offered much to discuss. There were parts that were somewhat frustrating however. The mystery of the disappeared sister of the young child narrator went on a bit too long for me and when it ended, I felt a bit frustrated with the handling of trauma. Yet the second mystery, the one of the relationship between the elderly, dying woman and the young adult stranger to this small town was very well developed. Overall, it was a good read and excellent for book clubs.
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Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge
Narrated by Channie Waites
I was a bit mixed about this one. I love the theme of a complicated and intense mother-daughter relationship, and this one had it in spades. Thoughout this novel, there was also the piercing question of: What is freedom? Are we ever truly free to follow our own desires? How does attachment, friendship, and love impact our sense of freedom? Beautiful themes. I think however that there were times in the execution that I found the story tedious and I certainly found the ending disappointing. I even found myself re-writing a more satisfying ending when discussing it with my book club. Spoiler: When she ultimately returns to her mother, I wondered if she had forfeited her freedom for safety and familiarity. Yet, maybe that is truly the point. Attachments make us struggle with freedom. If so, it could have been a bit more developed to allow the reader to struggle with this as well.
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My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Narrated by Hillary Huber
The first of the Neapolitan 4 Book series by Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend is beautifully written (and wonderfully read by Hillary Huber) and can certainly be a stand alone novel, or read as the first in the series. It has been called a masterpiece, and I’d have to agree. I loved immersing myself in this novel and highly recommend it to anyone who might be fascinated by the intensity of girlhood relationships as they navigate their challenging lives and struggle to understand (and often resist) the transition from childhood to adolescence. But this novel is much more than just that. What makes this story especially intriguing is the wonderfully described setting of a small working-class town outside post-WWII Naples. Although the girls were only in their infancy at the end of the war (born in 1944), there lingers a complex inter-relationship between the families around them– some quite damaged from the war, poverty, and the choices they had to make, some show evidence of the power and riches that came from the exploits of others, all trying to survive the best they can and navigate the current reality. The reader will be challenged by the plethora of names and characters, so fasten your seatbelt, yet it is well worth it. It is a story of love, attachment, struggle, duty, and betrayal. It is the first of four novels by Ferrante that continue this saga and I am excited to move into the second.
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The Rest of the 4 Book Neapolitan Series by Elena Ferrante
Narrated by Hillary Huber
I enjoyed each and every one of these novels in this beautiful series. I do have a friend who said they got a bit tedious and I wondered if it was just personal taste, or the fact that she had read them all in a row. Due to other book club obligations, the series was broken up for me and I always looked forward to returning the these characters, seeing how they evolved over time, and soaking in their world. I also enjoyed how Ferrante introduces the non-Italian reader to the complicated politics in Italy after WWII. I highly recommend spending time with these characters, their complicated and ever-changing relationships, and yet their tenacity to navigate both the difficult world and the intense community they were born into.
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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Narrated on Audible by Jim Broadbent
If you are looking for a fast-paced, plot twisting and turning mystery, suspense, or action-filled novel, this is not for you. Don’t get me wrong, those kinds of fast reads can be quite entertaining and just what a reader needs. But UPOHF, with its preposterously long title, is a delight to read, and probably best enjoyed by the older reader with a cup of tea. It is a tenderly written tale of an otherwise ordinary retired man, Harold Fry, who begins to take a short walk to mail a letter, but finds himself (almost accidentally) continuing on a long journey by foot to visit a dying friend in a distant town. His pilgrimage, like many, is both physical and psychological as he ponders his life, the modern world, and his relationships with family as well as strangers. His character arc is fabulously crafted by this talented author as our protagonist allows his thoughts to wander and explore ideas and feelings that have been closed off to him for years. His discoveries are propelled at times by the situations he encounters on the road, but at other times by just allowing himself to tolerate the quiet. This book requires one to slow down with Harold, to ponder one’s own life, and to bathe in the experience of self-discovery.
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The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
I tried very hard to like this novel, but for me, this was a disappointment. I was very much looking forward to this novel, having spent 8 years working for IHS, and was hungry for this historical fiction. But I was not engaged with the story which I found slow and meandering, often veering off to irrelevant subplots, found the writing mediocre, and the characters did not grab me. Honestly, if this had not been a book club choice, I probably would not have finished it.
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Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
Narrated on Audible by Cassandra Campbell
This one started off with such interesting characters, especially a bright, but punky 15 year old and his family, so I had great hopes. It is a story of grief, survivor guilt, depression, and ultimately hope and the development of a sense of purpose…all the makings of a good tale. But I struggled with certain very important, but preposterous details. The mystery in this book is the cause of the plane crash, and there is a long build-up to this reveal. But it turns out that the cause is the most ordinary and boring (at least dramatically) manner of pilot error, so was quite disappointing. Additionally, the shift in the protagonist’s character, his trajectory into finding a purpose to his life, came only as a result of coming into large and unearned amounts of money, which, now that I think of it, doesn’t seem like a character arc at all.
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Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
Narrated on Audible by Barrie Kreinik
Migrations was chosen by my book group and to a person we struggled with this one. There are so many interesting premises about a future in which global warming has drastically eliminated both animal and plant life, but the fallout of those losses (except we don’t see birds in the sky, etc.) are invisible and therefore this story requires the reader to accept a contrived reality of extinction yet the world just marches on. The world-building did not ring true for me, it should’ve been more dystopian. The story is of one woman, the wife of a scientist, who sets out to follow the last migration of Arctic Terns. But the consequences of reaching that goal were never clear.
Some people are bothered by the flashbacks in time, but personally this didn’t bother me as it seemed like we learned of background information about the protagonist when we were appropriately curious. Nonetheless, I struggled with the protagonist for other reasons. Her ability to convince others to put themselves at great risk for her seemed to contrast her likability and therefore seemed preposterous. Additionally, she had a potentially homicidal/suicidal sleep behavior disorder that she was well aware of, but never sought treatment, which made her particularly unappealing. I didn’t hate the book, finished it, but don’t highly recommend it.
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Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Beautifully narrated on Audible by the author, Hope Jahren
Absolutely one of the best and most enjoyable books I’ve read in years (and I read a lot of fabulous books). It is a truly beautiful memoir that reads like a novel. I enjoyed every minute of my time with Hope Jahren as she recounted her life as a scientist, but most entertaining was her literary talent to weave together botany and philosophy in thought provoking and delightful prose. For those of my friends who, like me, are science fans, I can see the rolling of the eyes. Let’s face it–those of us who studied chemistry, physics, biology, or even the social scientists, invited botany students to our tailgate parties in order to convince ourselves that we were not the most nerdy and boring students at the university. And yet, I am overwhelmed by this book about botany, about the world of science, and about people who engage with our planet at a depth not visible to most of us. It is stunningly engaging and I highly recommend Lab Girl.
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Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan
Narrated on Audible by Susan Denaker
An epic-like novel of two young sisters who immigrate to Boston from Ireland, like so many before and after them, in search of a better life. The characters, both sisters and the various central character that make up their lives, are very well developed and engaging. It is slow-paced and therefore best read when the reader is in the mood to exist within a different time and place, become absorbed in this immigrant culture, and see the world through the eyes of others. It is also quite austere and the oppression is palpable, both in what is said in done, but possibly more vehemently in what is left unsaid and undone. This leaves a kind of sadness and heaviness to the story and I found the ending somewhat wanting of a better and more gratifying resolution.
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Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Narrated on Audible by Rich Orlow
This is my first William Kent Krueger novel and I found the pace, the plot, the mysteries and secrets and the depth of quiet emotion, extremely compelling. It is the story of a Minnesota family during the summer of 1961, told through the eyes of a 13 year old boy. It is in one sense a coming of age story, but also much more. It is also the story of testing of the faith of his minister father and the tenacity of his mother and siblings as a series of tragic events unfold around them in their small town. It is a story of prejudices and biases that appear and recede as a town struggles to find answers for their trauma. It is a beautiful book and is read with just the right tone by Rich Orlow.
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The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Narrated on Audible by Shayna Small
The Vanishing Half is a fabulously written and wonderfully narrated story of twin African-American girls raised in the south who struggle with issues of race, adolescent rebellion, and family secrets as it conflicts with sisterly love and personal desires. It is captivating for its complex characters, captivating plot, and masterful writing. It challenges the reader to re-think what we might believe about racial identity, privilege, and difficult choices that once made, head us into unforeseen and irreversible directions. Highly recommended.
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My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Narrated on Audible by Richard Poi, Julia Gibson, Barbara McCulloh, Tom Stechschulte, Carol Monda, Jennifer Ikeda, and Andy Paris.
This Jodi Picoult novel gets wonderful reviews, and her writing is, as always, well-orchestrated and her theme was characteristically thought provoking. This, however, is not my favorite Picoult due to some plot issues. The love story, seemed unnecessarily mysterious– seemed to be just a ploy to add some mystery to this subplot and therefore felt contrived. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out two mysteries, in fact– why the attorney left his young beloved so many years ago, and why this attorney has a service dog without any noticeable impairment. And then when the reveal occurs (the answer to both questions are the same), I had a metaphorical shrug of the shoulders.
But more important is the main plot, a fabulous moral dilemma (what Picoult is famous for). Do parents have the right to use one child in the service of another? The problem I had was that I found the mother quite unlikeable, which is unfortunate, as her position could have been equally compelling as the daughter’s if only her character was less self-righteous. This possibly could’ve been a function of the audible narrator whose voice I found annoying, and possibly reading hard copy would be different. Nonetheless, that variable does not fix the ending which I also found contrived and extremely disappointing. Leaving alone the issue that people with epilepsy are not allowed to drive (for obvious reasons), the whole court case focused on the right to self-determination. To win that case only to have it ripped away at the end, was very unsatisfying to me. I think a better title would’ve been “The Donor,” as that is all our lovely protagonist was ever meant to be, and all she ever becomes.
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Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
Narrated on Audible by Joan Walker
It’s clear– Backman is the king of awkward, quirky, and ever lovable characters. This novel, published in 2016, is delightful, engaging, and highly recommended for readers who want both to equally get lost in thought and laugh out loud.
I can’t tell you how many friends, acquaintances, or patients tell me specific definitions of who they are as if it is a fixed and immutable state. (Full disclosure: I’m a Psychiatrist, so often curious about how people see themselves.) Sometimes it is a way to define their own boundaries of being, finding safety in not having to consider alternatives–it can be the warm comfort of the familiar. Other times it is a cage of their own unconscious making–a wall that they attempt to press against, but don’t push particularly hard for fear of what may be on the other side. This is Britt-Marie… until it isn’t.
At 63, in the midst of a new and economically challenged community, amongst people the likes of whom she has never encountered before, and struggling with the deterioration of her 40 year marriage and sheltered life, Britt-Marie slowly finds her very rigid definitions to no longer serve her well. She doesn’t set out to do this. She has no reason to seek change. But Britt-Marie’s new world presents her with challenges and conflicts that allow her to expand in ways she never could have dreamed. Britt-Marie’s character arc is beautiful to behold.
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Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
Audible narration by: Rebecca Lowman, Abigail Revasch, Kathe Mazur, and Mark Deakins.
When I want to be assured of being able to engross myself into an engaging story, compelling characters, and a type of writing that leads me to periodically put down the book to let my own thoughts wander into a subject beautifully presented, I always return to Jodi Picoult, and here she doesn’t fail my expectations. Interestingly, her entry into the mystical in Leaving Time did not bother me. I say “interestingly” as typically I’d be immediately turned off by a character claiming to be a psychic and events that clearly enter into the spiritual. Yet, for me, Picoult pulls this off and I was delighted to be pulled out of my usual comfort zone. The real wonder of this book and what drew me in to the lives of these characters, is the juxtaposition of the spiritual and the scientific. Much of the story takes place on an elephant sanctuary in New Hampshire (although we also get some wonderful chapters in Africa). One of the main characters who is an elephant researcher specializing in the grieving process for elephant allows the reader to understand on a deeper level these wonderful mammals, but begin to understand the relevance to humans as well. The parallels are woven masterfully into this story of attachment, love, loss, and grief. I highly recommend this fabulous novel.
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Mio Fratello Rincorre I Dinosauri da Giacomo Mazzariol
Questo bellissimo libro, consigliato dalla mia brillante insegnante di italiano Martina, è un vero tesoro. L’arco caratteriale del nostro protagonista è una meraviglia da vedere. Tutti possiamo comprendere le pressioni sociali dell’infanzia e dell’adolescenza: il desiderio di andare d’accordo con i nostri coetanei, essere popolari e non sembrare insoliti. Ma Giacomo ha una sfida speciale. All’inizio è molto eccitato quando scopre che sua madre è incinta di suo fratello, il che significa un equilibrio di genere nella sua famiglia con le sue due sorelle. Ma quando si scopre che il piccolo Giovanni è diverso, ha un cromosoma in più, il nostro protagonista lotta con le implicazioni. Il fratello minore è vissuto come una delusione, un imbarazzo, qualcuno da nascondere agli amici di Giacomo. La storia è raccontata in modo tale da far piangere il lettore un momento, per poi ridere forte quello successivo. Ma lentamente e inesorabilmente Giacomo cresce per capire il profondo impatto delle lezioni che apprende dal suo fratello speciale: lezioni sull’amore e su ciò che è veramente importante nella vita.
Grazie a Martina per questa raccomandazione. E grazie a Giacomo Mazzariol per questa bellissima storia.
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Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Audible narrator: Marin Ireland
So you all know by now that I love spending time in Fredrik Backman’s books. I love his stories, his characters, his pithy observations. This one was no less of a joy. In Anxious People we meet more than our usual share of characters, all well differentiated, all charming (or cantankerous and irresistible) in their own right. The story is a hostage taking by an unusual and quite inadequate bank robber. The hostages come each with their own story and charm. Marin Ireland does her usual fabulous job of reading this fun story. I just loved it. It is simple to enjoy, heart-warming without being sappy, a warm bath with bubbles.
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Normal People, A Novel by Sally Rooney
Sally Rooney is an acclaimed young Irish writer. I enjoyed the book, and finished it, yet felt that maybe I wasn’t exactly the right audience. Her style and engagement may be aimed at a younger audience. The characters didn’t fully pull me into their plight. There were however some lovely observations about life and class as evidenced by these quotes and I think they kept me in:
“It was culture as class performance, literature fetishised for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys, so that they might afterwards feel superior to the uneducated people whose emotional journeys they liked to read about.”
“It was culture as class performance, literature fetishised for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys, so that they might afterwards feel superior to the uneducated people whose emotional journeys they liked to read about.”
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The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
“Long before we discovered that he had fathered two children by two different women, one in Drimoleague and one in Clonakilty, Father James Monroe stood on the altar of the Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, in the parish of Goleen, West Cork, and denounced my mother as a whore.”
A great epic, literary saga that begins with the above paragraph. Need I say more? This is a story about endearing, but flawed characters whose passions and struggles span seven decades keeping the reader glued to the page until the very end. We begin in Ireland in the forties with a teenage pregnancy, a small town, the cruelty of the church, and a young girl who is sent out on her own with nothing but her tenacity. It is the story of that girl’s child, turned teen, and later adult who struggles with finding a place himself in a world that requires him to hide his true self. Boyne is masterful at intermixing humor, wittiness, and snappy dialogue with tragedy, self-loathing, and shame. Friendships are complicated, family nearly impossible, and sexuality is dangerous. Honestly there were times in which I wanted to scream at our dear protagonist, wanted him to rise up against the chains of his secrets, yet the character arc is well-paced and deliberate. Boyne’s work deserves all the critical acclaim it has received.
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Noi Siamo Tempesta da Michela Murgia
“Michela Murgia ha scelto sedici avventure collettive molto famose o completamente sconosciute e le ha raccontate come imprese corali, perché l’eroismo è la via di pochi, ma la collaborazione creativa è una superpotenza che appartiene a tutti. Una tempesta alla fine è solo milioni di gocce di acqua, ma con il vento giusto.”
Mi è piaciuta molto questa raccolta di storie e lo consiglio a tutti i lettori di libri italiani. Le storie si basano su verità storiche, ma i personaggi sono immaginari o, anche se sono reali, i pensieri ed i dialoghi sono immaginati da una ottima scrittrice. La scrittrice assume una posizione meno comune rispetto alle storie che abbiamo dovere ascoltare da bambini in cui siamo stati abituati alle storie di eroi, molto bravi, molto forti, ma soli. Queste storie si basano su eventi storici ma ci mostrano come un gruppo di persone che lavora insieme, fidandosi l’uno dell’altro, può cambiare il mondo in modi grandi e piccoli, ma in modi molto importanti e di grande ispirazione.
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Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
Audible read by: Julia Whelan
A fabulous book, a remarkable author, this story had to be told, had to be heard. I have seen other reviewers who are shocked that this is a current reality in the US. As a psychiatrist, sadly I am not. At times it was difficult to read– the psychological, religious, and physical abuse difficult to enter into, yet Tara’s strength and fortitude kept me glued to the story. At times, when she was on the brink of returning to the prison of her family life, I would want to scream at her, the screams coming from a very different upbringing. Tara’s description is neither self-pitying nor self-aggrandizing as she attempts to make sense of her history, her family, and her world both inside and outside that family. What a wonderful and brave book.
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My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman
Another great novel by Backman. This one is very, very sweet and it is a pleasure to spend time with these characters. The story of a beautiful relationship between a socially struggling odd, but brilliant young girl the absolutely quirky and cantankerous grandmother who adores her. The world through these two character’s eyes is at the same time both familiar and novel. Highly recommended.
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A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman
Narrated by Academy Award winner J.K. Simmons
I don’t know how I missed this when it was first published in 2012. Maybe it was the strange name, but I am so happy that it came up again on a must-read list, because it is exactly that. Backman writes beautifully– prose that make you just want to stop and take in his words, his phrases, the beauty, and the humor. Described as a story of a curmudgeonly old man and his quirky way of seeing the world… well, I honestly thought it might be just too sentimental for a seasoned cynic, but there I was, totally swallowed up in his world and one of the most compelling character arcs. I can hardly believe this is Backman’s debut novel. I think it will be one of my favorite for all time.
Additionally, I’d like to add that listening through the audible version, read by J.K. Simmons was wonderful. It was brilliantly read. I haven’t seen the movie, yet. Might do that one day. But need to feel the warmth of the book for quite awhile before venturing into the film.
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Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Audible narrator: Marin Ireland
Loved it! Really loved it. What a fabulously written novel that truly captures small, rural town living, the importance of local sports in such venues, and a cast of characters so vibrant and believable that the reader can easily forget this is a novel and feel more like they are watching a real drama unfold before their eyes. When this town, who’s lifeblood is centered around their hockey team’s success, finds themselves in a moral quandary between loyalty and truth, the lines get drawn and true character is tested. Backman is an astoundingly talented writer. His ability to understand characters of all ages and depict them on the page is inspiring. His talent at writing about the complexity of human dilemmas in this novel which is partly a coming-of-age story, but much, much more.
I usually don’t comment on the narrator, as it is my typical belief that the narrator needs to be almost unnoticeable. But the audible version read by Marin Ireland was extraordinary. I was so impressed by her ability to capture the sentiments of these characters, their lives, their struggles… I truly enjoyed listening to her voice and her interpretation of the voices of this very rich cast.
Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
Audible narrator: Marin Ireland
Sequels, right? Never as good, always a disappointment. This is the enormous exception to the rule. Because I loved Beartown so much, I almost passed on this one. Same characters? Same town? How many times have you told yourself that a novel is so good that you just want to stay with the characters longer, only to be disappointed by what the author does with sequel? “Us Against You” is truly as fabulous as “Beartown,” but I do recommend reading them in order (Beartown first). Although Backman does a fabulous job appropriately filling in the backstory that you would’ve gotten from the first, he also does it in such a way that it does not feel boring or repetitive if you have read Beartown, and I still suggest you read the first story in its original glory. But don’t be fooled. This is not just a follow-up of those characters, in the ‘what ever happened to…?’ kind of way. It is an entirely delightful, beautifully written novel on its own with a plot that expands in ways that could not have been predicted. Again, one of my all-time favorites. Again, wonderfully read by Marin Ireland who brings her sassy, but brilliant voice to each scene.
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After the End by Clare Mackintosh
This novel shows Clare Mackintosh’s range. It is different from both I Let You Go and I See You in that it doesn’t call for her extensive knowledge about law enforcement and criminal investigations. This is a very different novel– a deep, heart-felt story about a very likable, mature couple who find themselves in the most impossible conflict. What is the kindest decision regarding their dying son? The novel leaves the reader agreeing with each party, and Mackintosh is brilliant at presenting the no-win situation without simplifying the characters into heroes and villains, she lives in the gray zone. Then, in a wonderfully provocative twist, Mackintosh continues the story with a sliding-door structure– following the scenario of what would happen if each parent had gotten their way. This attends to the oh-so-familiar situation of so many of us– a pivotal moment occurs, a decision is made, an outcome results, and yet a shadow of doubt continues, gnaws at us…the what if? And what I really loved about the way she followed these different scenarios out to their likely consequences, is that the ultimate conclusion was that it all ends the same, or at least with very little difference. So marvelously satisfying and so relieving for those of us who struggle with the….what if?
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The Vacation by T. M. Logan
Publication date: July 20, 2020
I was pleased to receive this latest novel of T.M. Logan from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I had read his previous novel, Lies, and had enjoyed it immensely. I have heard that 29 Seconds is also fabulous, and may give that a try soon.
Unfortunately Logan did not hit the mark for me with this latest novel. The characters seemed more superficial and petty than in his previous book and they spent more time feeling sorry for themselves than trying to work out their problems with life-long friends. The writing also did not seem as tight as his previous novel and I found myself internally re-writing certain parts (now, that’s a distraction!) like the way he dealt with telling us the protagonist’s feelings instead of showing it with much more depth. I was also bothered with what seemed to be cheap writing devices to obtain tension, like having the protagonist find something that surprises and disturbs her, but the author leaves us hanging without knowing what the object or event was, and ends the chapter. We then find out later, usually that it was a misunderstanding due to terrible communication, but the tension fell flat. You didn’t end up with “Oh, wow, that’s what it was!,” but rather, “Well, now, that was annoying.” Similarly, we go quite a distance knowing the protagonist feels quite guilty over having something to do with the death of a friend’s fiancé, only later to learn her part in this event was minor and unintentional. Again, “oh, that’s it? Hummm….”
All that being said, I did finish the novel to find out the mysteries that were numerous, and ultimately satisfying. I may try Logan’s 29 Seconds in the future as I found that reviewers who felt similarly to me with this one, touted 29 Seconds in the same manner as Lies. But I’ll give it some time. Once an author has disappointed, one needs time to recover.
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You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
This is another fabulous psychological thriller by Hendricks and Pekkanen. There is no way to summarize this novel without giving away the surprising and twisty plot, so I’ll refrain from doing that, but suffice it to say that these authors have again produced a story that has the reader working hard (and loving every minute of it) to figure out the mysterious relationships of the characters– this time of a group of women. Are they the wonderfully supportive longed-for friends that they seem, or is something else going on? And if so, what? And for what ultimate purpose? This is a far from predictable– a wonderful read for the lover of psychological thrillers.
Shay Miller, lonely and bored, suddenly finds herself a witness to an event that will change her life– disturbing event, yes, but a small little lie opens a door to whole new gratifying social life, friends of glamour that she never thought would ever be interested in her, a complete and fabulous make-over– until all is not as it seems and this new life turns dangerously dark.
What I love about Hendricks & Pekkanen’s books is that the reader is absorbed in the mystery and the anticipation of what may occur, without being terrified that some over-the-top disturbingly violent scene is going to be thrust upon you and give nightmares. You can trust these authors to keep you on the edge of your seat, without feeling bludgeoned. This is a rare talent and therefore these authors’ novels are great for teens on up.
I want to thank the authors, St. Martins Press, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
Audible narrators – David Thorpe and Julia Barrie
This is my second Clare Macintosh novel– a fabulous suspense-thriller author with an exquisite insight into law enforcement and the minds of those who end up on both sides of the ledger. This particular story was powerfully engrossing with the necessary twists and turns, and even when the reader can figure out the “who done it,” there is still the burning question of how it will resolve itself. A horrible hit-and-run accident has left a young boy dead and a mother grieving, but the witnesses and perpetrators have their own twisted story to tell as do the detectives and their neglected families. The characters are clear and complex, the plot is compelling, and additionally, the narrators were spectacular. Fun read!
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The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Audible narrator – Imogene Church
Unfortunately, I found this one somewhat disappointing. It was compelling enough for me to finish, possibly because its best-selling acclaim convinced me that there must be more here. But frankly, I found the main character, Laura “Lo” Blacklock, annoying. She drinks too much, complains incessantly, makes terrible decisions, does not prepare for her job, and gets into cringe-worthy, petty arguments, making her the kind of protagonist that you don’t actually go as far as root against, but you’re also not thrilled to be in her head for an entire novel. I also found the pacing too slow and plodding for a suspense thriller. The writing is above average, but the constant use of “a little voice in my head,” that serves as her internal doubt and criticism is an annoying way to take the reader into the protagonist’s thinking. When the protagonist is as big of a mess as Lo is, she needs to be more likable.
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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
I loved spending time in this book. The story and the characters were so artfully developed that I felt like I was wonderfully swimming in their world. I read this after having read Moyes’ more recent book, The Giver of Stars (LOVED that one as well!), and again found the writing superb. There is so much complexity, depth, and nuance in this novel even in the simplicity of the story.
I know there is a sequel, but have lots of trepidation about moving on. I like wondering about the main protagonist’s future and am not sure I want it to be concretized in finding out. In fact, I think it is best left unsaid. Her character shift as a result of the plot of Me Before You is so profound that it seems like it would cheapen the impact to follow the story further. I might change my mind on this, but for now, I have to sit with leaving this as a highly recommended stand alone novel.
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The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
I had very mixed feelings about this one. Obviously Patchett writes well. I “read” this through Audible, narrated by Tom Hanks. First, I found Tom Hanks a bit distracting. I realized (through this book) that having an anonymous reader is important unless it is the author who really knows the voice of their character. I kept picturing either Forrest Gump or the Tom Hanks’ character in Philadelphia! Not quite right for this one. I’m sure Patchett was very happy to get Hanks, but I just don’t think it worked.
Beyond that, I confess that I often had the sarcastic thought: “poor little rich boy.” I just didn’t find his or his sister’s troubles very compelling. Maybe it was the way Hanks read it, or maybe I just can’t read about the ‘troubles’ of the wealthy class right now given the state of our country. Or maybe I got it all wrong and the book was really about the house…which seems weird…or the return of the mother (who I had no compassion for), or the sibling relationship which was nice, but obvious.
I have seen all the many raving reviews on Goodreads or Amazon, so I am reminded of what as is true of all art forms– people’s tastes are quite different and my ho-hum response to this novel is in the minority of reviewers.
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The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
“A thing can be true and not the truth.”
“Like all fairy tales, theirs was filled with thickets and dark places and broken dreams, and runaway girls.”
Written in the beautiful and thought-provoking way so typical of Kristin Hannah’s work, I highly recommended this novel. It is one of those books that has one thinking, worrying, and hoping every time it is put down between reads and long after the book is finished. But beware, it is not for the faint of heart. In addition to immersing the reader into the beauty and wildness of Alaska (you are truly swallowed up in Hannah’s setting), the novel deals with the intensity of a difficult family drama. Love, loyalty, and devotion are intertwined with obsession, fear, and the shame of domestic violence. Hannah does not shy away from the ugly. The highs are high, the lows are dark, all insightfully told from the point of view of a coming of age teenage daughter in the 1970s who is one of the most likable characters you will find.
The audible version is very well-read by Julia Whelan and includes a very interesting author’s notes at the end.
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The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
I’m still swimming in the prose and beauty of this deservedly acclaimed novel that equally absorbs the reader in place, in plot, in character, and in the kind of sisterhood that starts from a wary suspiciousness and develops into deep bonds that warm the soul.
Moyes takes you into the heart of rural Kentucky in the late 1930s, a place many of us might find it hard to imagine ourselves loving and appreciating for both its beauty, its hardships, and its rugged determinism. But there it is. I’ve spent much time recently in books that take place in historic Europe, that show the depth of place and culture in that continent. As Americans, we tend to demur to our cross the pond ancestors and their much longer heritage. This novel reminds us of our own uniquely American past and especially of the difficult roads traveled (literally and figuratively) by the women of this country.
After several chapters, I phoned my closest high school friend (yes, decades ago and 1/2 way across the country) to tell her she just had to read this one. That is the impact of Jojo Moyes most recent novel. Coincidentally, my teen-twin/sister-friend had just started it herself and I can hardly wait for the post-read discussion.
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New England Soup Factory Cookbook by Marjorie Druker
I know, I don’t usually review cookbooks, but this one I really love and want to share.
Sadly, I lost all of my cookbooks when we lost our home in the California wildfires– many of which were out of date and could not be replaced. So, my sons sent me this soup cookbook, having remembered their childhood during which I loved making warm soups for winter nights, or even taking 4 different soups up to the mountains when we skied so everyone could have their favorite! Well, this cookbook is absolutely wonderful!! I have tried many of the recipes in this cookbook and they are easy to make, yet the quality for dinner parties. We keep at least 3 in the freezer at all times. I’ve just ordered 3 more copies, to be sent this holidays to my boys so they can enjoy them in their own homes. What a fabulous find!
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Short Stories in Italian, Volume 1 and 2 by Olly Richards
Two excellent books by Olly Richards for Italian learners. His chapters are just the right length as are each short story (3 chapters for each short story). After each short story there are vocabulary words, a summary and a few comprehension questions at the end. I bought the Kindle edition which allowed me to highlight words or phrases to study later. This is an excellent series for Italian language learners. I’m on to the Intermediate level as well as the Spanish editions…thanks Olly!
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You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld
Short stories are not my usual preference as I like to stay with characters longer than this format, but they can be perfect for confined periods of time like plane rides, or listening to Audible while working out (which is how I enjoyed this particular collection). It probably goes without saying — but I’ll say it anyway– some stories were more delightful to me than others, as is likely to be true for any reader. Nonetheless, the characters are well-developed, relatable, and flawed in that believable human way. The stories are of love, regret, and mis-understandings that we’ve all experienced in ourselves or others, in a way that leaves the reader relieved about the universal nature of such events. These are wonderful stories.
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Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell delivers his typical quirky and thought-provoking view in this latest book that covers a wide array of topics related to human interactions with people we do not know. His research and stories are delightful as well as quite concerning about the assumptions we erroneously make. Interestingly, he explains the evidence against even the most highly trained individuals (police, CIA, heads of state) that also over-rate their instincts on others, and why those mistakes get made often to horrific outcomes. This book will help you question your own assumptions, your default to accepting false truths, that get made in everyday life.
Gladwell reads this book himself on audible, which is how I ‘read’ Talking to Strangers. It was an added plus to hear the words read by the author himself, with the intonations and emphases intended.
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A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles
Absorbing, witty, beautifully written, a pleasure to immerse oneself in– the prose are just stunning. In this era of fast-paced, plot-driven block buster, A Gentleman In Moscow is an instant reminder that the well-versed sentence, the cleaver observation, the delightful turn of a phrase, has not been lost and does not cease to inthrall the reader.
This is a decidedly slow paced novel (no car chases or cliff hanging chapter endings) and admittedly I had a hard time the first time I read it. That said, I think that may be more about my own state of mind at the beginning of the pandemic when I was looking for a faster-paced diversion. Then, 2 years later, it was fortunately chosen by my book club– at which point I understood the pace and mood of this novel and, as it turned out, I experienced it as one of the best books I’ve ever read. Seriously. I loved being immersed in this writing and couldn’t wait to return each day to more. So, go figure, the mood of the reader is another variable to consider.
My only complaint is the Towles spent 20 years as a professional in Manhattan prior to writing his first novel– such a loss to the discerning reader. I look forward to other novels by this talented author.
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Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
Let’s face it, well-done courtroom dramas are always fun, clever, mysterious, and satisfy a certain sadistic ‘got ya’ desire for the reader. Yet Kim’s Miracle Creek goes far beyond what one might expect with this genre. It is intensely complex, not in plot — despite the gratifying twists and turns, it is easy to follow — but rather the complexity lies in the psychological depth in which she portrays her characters and their relationships with each other. Bad things happen, terrible things happen, and yet there is no simple bad antagonist, no one person who is easy to blame or hate. Good people have private bad thoughts, even secretly share them, and when they get exposed it leads others down a rabbit hole of easy answers and self-satisfaction until one is confronted with the commonality of such thinking. Kim’s ability to take the reader into ever-increasing depths of human nature — its desire for easy answers and buttoned-up solutions, its compulsion to do the right thing despite personal danger and pain, the inevitable sadness that comes with deep empathy, and the conflicts that all these states can produce — is at once beautiful, pleasurable, and intensely sad. Yet beyond the sadness, there is something quite gratifying that the reader takes away from this novel– a knowledge that one’s own complex life, relationships, and decisions are not easily reduced to a binary of right and wrong, good and bad, heroic and tragic.
I ‘read’ this novel through audible.com, brilliantly narrated by Jennifer Lim ,and highly recommend it in any preferred modality.
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The ACBL Bridge Series by Audrey Grant and Betty Starzec
As these were written as an instructional series, I will review them together (Bidding, Play of the Hand, and Defense). As a beginner bridge learners, my husband and I started with these three. They are well written, easily followed and quite instructive. I especially enjoyed the first two, but got bogged down by the third (Defense) and couldn’t finish it (a rare thing for me). I wonder if it would be better read after much more practice and playing of the game to pull the quite detailed explanations together. I would have also liked it if each had a well-organized index in the back to allow one to find concepts more easily in these reference books. The back appendix is a definition of terms, but there is no organization of the concepts and we found ourselves having to work hard to locate for review parts that were relevant with our play. Nonetheless, the authors are clearly good instructors and I’d recommend these to new players.
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How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer
Having sat on the sidelines of more games than thought possible, this ‘soccer mom’ had to get this book when I saw a young economics graduate student reading it in a waiting room. For those of you who have evolved from cheering on youth soccer, or playing it yourself, to watching and studying the big leagues, this is a delight. The political and social interplay into the most beautiful game as played by the pros is quite insightful. It also makes a great gift for friends and family members who are also absorbed by this game watched and played throughout the world.
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Man Of The Year by Caroline Louise Walker
“You can measure people’s privilege by how much shit they disturb for fun.”
This wonderfully written debut novel is told primarily from the point of view of Dr. Robert Hart, a physician, husband, and father, who is slowly broken down psychologically by suspicions, clues, and mis-direction about his family. Dr. Hart, who seems to have it all — a successful career, a beautiful wife, the admiration of his community — finds his brilliant mind slowly unraveling when truth, suspicions, and frank lies become indistinguishable, and he descends down the rabbit hole of bad decisions. Initially the story unfolds at a reasonable pace to allow the reader to become fully engrossed in these flawed but compelling characters. Then mid-way the pace begins to gather speed with the convolutions of Walker’s plot until it is impossible to put down. The twists and turns are wonderfully orchestrated and the final ending is both surprising and gratifying to even the most discerning reader of mystery novels and psychological thrillers. I particularly enjoyed the insights Walker brings to the page as envy and revenge consume several of these cleverly written characters.
I highly recommend Walker’s Man of the Year and thank NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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We Were Killers Once by Becky Masterman
First, a big thank you to the author, Becky Masterman, the publisher, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I couldn’t put this one down. This is a brilliantly thought-out story, a “what if” in regards to the Clutter and Walker family murders in the late 1950s, memorialized by Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. But with so many unsolved pieces to those crimes, Masterman has brilliantly brought in a fictional 3rd character to sew it all up. The research and creativity involved in this is very impressive and I was loathe to put it down. In addition, the thriller-suspenseful movement is appropriately dotted with little, thought-provoking gems like: “…marriage is about repeatedly forgiving the other person for not being us.” These little philosophical musings, not only made one stop and think, but added to the reader’s understanding of these characters.
I did, however, find the writing somewhat inconsistent, with unnecessary repetitions and too much explaining that felt a bit condescending to the reader and broke up the pace. The author at times violated the ‘show don’t tell’ rule and I would find myself disappointed because otherwise the plot is fabulous and I highly recommend this for anyone, but especially those who are fascinated with one of the biggest crime stories of the 20th century.
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The Color of Water by James McBride
“I felt frustrated to live in a world that considers the color of your face an immediate political statement whether you like it or not.”
“The way Tateh treated her, they’d call her an ‘abused woman’ today. Back then they just called you ‘wife.'”
One of the problems for me with raising children and working simultaneously was that I missed a good twenty years of having sufficient time to read excellent literature. So you miss a few. Fortunately, free time returned and I went back to read this 2006 National Book Award winner. The writing is fabulous, the story timeless, and the characters (especially his mother) are quirky, brilliant, and lovable. It is an intense story of trying to be who you know yourself to be, to feel entitled to live the life you choose, to move beyond your history, and to dodge the expectations and prejudices of society. McBride’s mother in this story holds her head high, despite all odds and circumstances, and is an inspiration for her children, her community and the rest of us.
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This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
I have been on a streak of fabulous books lately, and this is likely to be one of my all time favorites by a brilliant author. It is a story that stays with, teaches you, makes you think, and challenges your unacknowledged (or possibly unconscious) assumptions about the raising of a non cis-gendered child. But it also makes you laugh– no heavy handed lecture as can be so common on subjects about the marginalized in society. And, amazingly, this is not a tragedy. The writing is tight, the characters smart, witty, and it is a thrill to watch the story unfold as this family struggles to understand and support a child who is different.
Now at times the characters seem idealized, maybe a bit too insightful, too clever, too non-neurotic as they navigate their love, their ambivalences, and their pain. Yet why would I want to be inside the mind of those whose thinking is as ordinary as mine? No, this story challenges us to be out better selves, and for that I will always recommend this book.
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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
This recently released debut novel by Alex Michaelides has been called a psychological thriller, but I think the more appropriate term would be a psychological suspense, and a fantastic one at that. The reader is not anxiously awaiting another attack from an unknown villain, but rather sits in page-turning anticipation of understanding the ‘why’ of a known killer. Since the murder takes place in the very beginning of the book and we are pretty sure (with occasional moments of doubt) that we know who the murderer is, the brilliance is how the author takes us through numerous twists and turns as we follow the mystery of why and how this event occurred.
The writing is tight, the characters engrossing in a macabre sense, and the darkness so well orchestrated that the reader is left with the sense that one can really never know oneself, let alone someone else…or what we/they are capable of. Bravo. Great debut novel.
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
It is hard to believe that this is a debut novel. It is beautiful in so many areas– love, innocence, loneliness, survival, tenacity, and brilliant observation. I am usually one to focus on depth of character and a compelling tale (or not), and both those things areas are executed fabulously, don’t get me wrong. But the setting that Owens immerses the reader in is unforgettable. You are there, and you never want to leave. I fell in love with rural North Carolina (quite a feat for this California girl) through the eyes of the “Marsh Girl” whose keen insight, observational skills, and appreciation of nature reminds one that true biologists are not those who study biology, but rather those who see nothing else as valuable. The New York Times called this book “…painfully beautiful… at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative, and a celebration of nature,” and I couldn’t agree more. I heard this novel as beautifully read by Cassandra Campbell and highly recommend it.
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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I am not sure why I didn’t like this book as much as so many other reviewers have. Maybe it is the expectation that strong accolades can set me up for, maybe. But like so many YA books, I felt myself lectured to. (Why is it that we think we’re going to turn adolescents on to reading by lecturing them about the “should”s of life?)
This is the story of the horror of violence that the African-American community experiences (both at the hands of the police, as well as their neighborhood gangs) and the struggle that a young female teen has in speaking out as a witness. So far, so good. My problem was that I found the writing uneven, the thinking simplistic and ordinary at times, and, as I said, I felt lectured to. I was reminded of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson which my kids read when they were teens about a girl who cannot speak up about her rape until the very end. Again, a story to tell teens to speak their truth against a society that prefers they shut up. I thought it was an important message, then watched the sighing reaction of my teens as they felt more instructed by the book than inspired, enlightened, or challenged. I just think these same messages, as important as they are, need to be written in a way that engages the reader more fully in the legitimate struggle against silence. Instead, I felt like screaming at the protagonist to do exactly what she eventually does. But maybe that’s just me.
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An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
A wonderfully executed fiction about love, and its limits. A newly wedded couple has their struggles, like most, but when the man is arrested and convicted of a crime he did not do and he is sent to prison, their relationship is stressed beyond what most could imagine. We hear the strain from both sides, with an added love triangle to complicate things further, as the wrongly convicted man finds his life and future cut completely off from the trajectory that he had been working so hard to achieve. Jones puts us squarely in the head of the three main characters, sometimes uncomfortably so. But it is well worth this discomfort as we know there are no good answers for these characters, they are victims of life’s fate through no fault of their own.
This is the kind of book that stays with you. We all have had moments or events that leave us struggling to find the right answer, a desire to find the decision that won’t leave us second guessing years down the road. This book challenges one to look at your own life and the times when life’s fate has dealt ambiguity and unclear choices. Through this touching story, one might find just a bit of empathy for the tough questions with no good answers.
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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
What an engrossing read! Gail Honeyman has nailed the art of storytelling with humor, wit, struggle, angst, and love, all told from the quirky point-of-view of our very troubled protagonist, Eleanor, as she navigates a world in which she does not fit, or at least initially. In this way I am reminded of Ignatius Reilly in Confederacy of Dunces or Christopher Boone in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time– characters that are unforgettable, and entering their worldview is nothing short of delightful. Eleanor’s voice, her astute observations, her ability to look at the mundane in a new, refreshing, and with a curious but discerning perspective leaves the reader chuckling page after page. Gail Honeyman’s ability to write this odd character with consistency and tenderness is truly awe-inspiring. Highly recommended.
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Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
Beautifully written, engaging, and touching– I loved this historical fiction about a dark time in American history when children were treated as a commodity to be traded and, worse yet, profited from, over a 30 year period from 1920 to 1950. And yet this is also a story about tenacity and attachment, survival and strength. Lisa Wingate masterfully brings these characters, both young and old, to life with all the complicated dimensions one hopes to find in such a novel. She takes us into this heart-breaking experience from the perspective of a twelve-year-old girl who makes it her purpose to protect her younger siblings. We see her successes and her failures, her pain as well as her power to be her best self despite others around her. In this well orchestrated fiction, Lisa Wingate gives the reader a very vivid experience. I highly recommend this novel.
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A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
Another fabulous novel by Jodi Picoult in her well-known style of fabulous character development, beautiful prose, and a compelling story on a timely and controversial topic. This time Picoult takes up the complex emotions behind the fervent debate over reproductive rights when a pro-life father storms into a women’s clinic that performs abortions in retribution for what he thinks he’s lost. Hostages are taken and innocent people are wounded or killed with each individual having their own story to tell, secrets to keep, and history to wrestle with. As usual, Picoult’s research of her topic is superb as she weaves the myths and facts into the fabric of her tale.
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Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
Literature, like any other art form, is judged by the idiosyncratic eye of the audience. For me, Small Great Things is the literary equivalent of a great sculpture or painting– if created with current social themes consisting of the depth and subtly of masterful strokes, intricate scenes that can be stared at for hours like paintings by the masters, powerful figures that make us question even our deepest held beliefs, and not one to shy away from engaging and understanding the ugly.
This is truly a brave work by Jodi Picoult, and although known for her handling of controversy with aplomb, I was mesmerized by this particular novel. As a white author, one who describes herself as benefitting from the wind-at-your back white privilege that is both ubiquitous and invisible in our society, she stepped into the forbidden abyss of a novel that takes on the complexity of race relations in America. The story is compelling, the characters complex, the prose exquisite, and the themes haunting in a way that elevates ones thinking. It ultimately results in the gratitude one feels when we see something obvious for the first time in a deeper way. I cannot give a higher recommendation than for this amazing novel.
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Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Science Fiction at its best. Engaging characters. Intriguing science. Suspenseful. Fast-paced. Unexpected twists.
“Are you happy with your life?” A provocative question that is asked by the abductor of our protagonist, Jason Deesen. A question that deepens as Jason explores all of the millions of decisions that get made in life, forks in the road that lead to opportunities gained, but also just as many opportunities lost. We all have them, the ‘what if”s that can plague even the most satisfied soul. But Crouch takes us much further on this torturous mind game into the area of quantum physics and alternate universes that continue on with the consequences of decisions that never got made. His story of Jason Deesen is a thrilling, well-written page turner, but the reader will find themselves pondering in their own life the questions raised by Crouch well past the last page.
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The Girls by Emma Cline
The subject of Cline’s novel, the young women of the “Manson Family” cult, is one that has mystified and intrigued thousands ever since their famous murders in 1969. This is a daunting subject for a debut novel and Cline shows herself to be a talented young author. Cline writes this fictionalized account in the first person POV, through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old teen struggling with her identity and fascinated by the close camaraderie of the Manson’s girls. She joins them for a summer. Our narrator leads us through the initial free-love, anti-establishment, hippy phase of the cult, Manson’s messiah-like command, and then to the eventual murderous events.
I found myself turning page after page to understand what led up to that fateful night. First, who were these young women? At the time, they seemed so ordinary in the papers. One was even a homecoming princess. Second, why was Manson so compelling, so mesmerizing for these girls? After all, in his photos he appeared grossly unappealing and scary. And third, what turned this hippy commune into a murderous cult?
Although I very much enjoyed Cline’s writing and subject, I finished the book frustrated and wanting more. I found her change of the cult members’ names annoying and never understood why that was necessary. It is possible that her re-named fictional characters represent combinations of several real-life cult members and therefore attaching just one of their names to that character would’ve been historically inaccurate, but I wished she’d found a better solution for that problem. Additionally, although I learned a lot about the cult, I never got good answers to the above three important questions that gnawed at me throughout the book. In fact, the third question– what turned changed the Manson Family mission–occurred when our narrator wasn’t there. She returns from being away, and it’s different. I felt she could’ve gone further in this novel. Nonetheless, Cline is talented and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of her work in the future.
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The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib
Publication Date: February 5, 2019
This is a smart, tender, heartbreaking, and insightful novel that takes us into the world of eating disorders–the denial, the dangers, the suffering, the treatment–touching on both hope and despair. It is masterfully portrayed with just the proper amount of realism for the lethality, the camaraderie that often occurs in such settings, and the chronicity that can be draining for patients and their families.
As a psychiatrist who has spent many years in the past few decades working with these disorders, I was initially reluctant to read this novel — after all, for me this is work and I read to escape. But Zgheib miraculously wove a story that took me completely out of that mindset and instead staying up late in the night to turn page after page, engrossed in this novel. I really have no idea how she did it except to say that the protagonist is compelling and insightful, and it is a true delight to spend time in her head despite (or maybe because of) her struggles. Zgheib’s pacing is perfectly executed and the writing is tight.
Prior to reading this debut novel, I knew nothing about the author. But when I later discovered that Yara Zgheib is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University and a PhD in International Affairs in Diplomacy from Centre D’études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques in Paris, the intelligence, kindness, and insight with which this novel is written made perfect sense.
I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and the author, Yara Zgheib for providing me a complimentary copy of THE GIRLS AT 17 SWANN STREET in exchange for my honest review.
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The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Oh, this one is fun in so many ways. First and foremost, Quinn shines in her historical research and the ingenious way she weaves that information into the story. I found myself right there, effortlessly emerged in the two time periods (During WWI and right after WWII) that she flips back and forth between– like two different historical fictions in one. And most importantly, the story Quinn tells of the importance and dangers of this female spy network is so intriguing that this novel is difficult to put down. It’s truly like being there without risk of life and limb. Additionally, this novel offers hours of pondering. It lead to thinking about the risks I would (or wouldn’t) be willing to take and the awe inspiring bravery of these young women.
If there is any drawback, it is in the editing. There were times when the writing could’ve been tighter, where repetition of phrases occur within paragraphs, or when pieces the reader already knows get repeated with no additional point to the re-telling. Nonetheless, I recommend this novel and will read more from this author who does her research and presents it so well.
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Before The Fall by Noah Hawley
Highly Recommended. In your typical suspense or mystery, the reader is on the edge of their seat wanting to decipher clues, follow twists, and get to the whodunit. But the reader gets way more than those experiences with Noah Hawley’s fabulously executed Before The Fall. This is a novel in which readers find themselves engrossed in the complexity of flawed but fascinating characters, pithy philosophies, and brilliant commentaries on modern life. This is a book that is both a fast page-turner and one that you find yourself highlighting parts and reading them out loud to loved ones.
“…isn’t that what marriage is, two people fighting for land rights to the same six inches?”
“This is what memory is, a carefully calibrated story that we make up about our past.”
“Never fight tomorrow’s fight today.”
“…what if instead of a story told in consecutive order, life is a cacophony of moments we never leave.”
“True horror, you see, comes not from the savagery of the unexpected, but from the corruption of everyday objects, spaces.”
The theme of the randomness in life — the chance coming together of people for no apparent reason, the events that unfold with unexpected outcomes, and the fates that get sealed in a moment — will leave the reader both satisfied and disturbed, it is what we know and yet don’t want to know.
I am grateful to friends who recommended this book (now passed on to my husband, a private pilot, no less).
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Past Tense by Lee Child
Publication date: 11/5/2018
First, I’d like to thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read this novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
There are Lee Child/Jack Reacher fans, verging on obsessionados (made that word up!) and there are the rest of us. But few can claim to be completely naive to the series which is ubiquitous in all airport bookstores and, of course, most have some familiarity with the movies. For Jack Reacher followers, who love to fill out the picture of who this iconic character is, this latest edition (#23) is an added piece to the mystery of Reacher’s past as he attempts to understand his father. For the rest of us, it is a standard, plot driven, fast paced, commercial story of an ex-military police officer who fights the bad guys (with no question on the reader’s part of who will win, despite the odds), and in a non-conformist manner, Reacher charms the good guys who find his unconventional style both annoying and inspirational.
There are no character arcs here. Reacher is the same dragon-slaying, hard driving, stoic man at the beginning as at the end. What made this story a bit more intriguing was the fortitude and cleverness of the two main victims in solving much of their own dilemma. This is not literary brilliance and will not leave the reader pondering in new and thought-provoking ways. Nor is it the kind of mystery-suspense that keeps one in the edge of one’s seat not knowing who will win or how…the outcome is known. Yet some days this is exactly what a reader wants, a modern swashbuckler. If so, enjoy!
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White Oleander by Janet Fitch
This much acclaimed novel is almost 20 years old and I’m finally getting around to reading it– fortunately, it still reads as quite contemporary. This is a story about the coming of age of a young girl with mommy issues…on steroids…and a story of a mother whose enmeshed attachment to her daughter is both sadistic and addicting for both involved. The toxicity of this familial bond thrusts the daughter, Astrid, into a multitude of conflicted relationships with both the men and the women she encounters in foster home after foster home when her mother, Ingrid, is imprisoned for murder. A murder that young Astrid had witnessed in the making. Yet the prison bars prove no barrier for the dangerous hold this complex mother has on her impressionable daughter who is battling her own demons in the revolving-door world of foster care.
And finally, as has been said elsewhere (everywhere!), Fitch’s prose are a delight to read.
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Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
All her life, she had learned that passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing. It so easily went out of control.
How many times can I say, ‘This is one of my favorite books ever,’ and have credibility? Whatever. This book is fantastic. I entered with trepidation, thinking that Ng could never match the brilliance of Everything I Never Told You. But Celeste Ng has done it again with this deep and compelling family drama that touches on so many relevant themes and is sure to touch the hearts of all of her readers.
I’ve seen some reviews that talk about the slow initial pace. I hate slow pace. I loved this book. Why? Ng’s character development is so engrossing that I, as a lover of fast-paced plot, wanted to just surround myself with her words, her descriptions, as if taking a warm bath that remains always at the perfect temperature. Ng also has the rare ability to move point-of-view from third-person intimate to the occasional omniscient POV in order for the reader to see the characters more fully without that shift being jarring to the reader. She just has masterful technique. The only knock I would have on this one, is the envy for the author’s skill that I experienced throughout…there you have it, my petty side is revealed. All kidding aside, life is short. Put down anything you’re reading that you think is ‘just okay,’ and pick this one up.
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Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
First, I have to thank friends who gave me this book as a distraction after a family tragedy (our home burned down in the California Wildfires of Oct. ’17). What a perfect distraction! Couldn’t have been better, truly. It is clever, humorous, page-turning, and yet deals with intensely serious issues of bullying, false accusations, maternal ambivalence, and domestic violence. How could that be done, you might ask. I have no explanation for the brilliance of this writing. There are so many characters in this small town setting, yet each is clearly differentiated and unique. Their stories are complex and powerful. This is a must read and has earned its place as a Book Club favorite.
Now, I know there are Moriarty fans out there who love everything she writes. I’m not one. Honestly, I didn’t really care for The Husband’s Secret. By the end of that one, I really was tired of wondering what the secret was and found it…I don’t know…a bit ho-hum.
But this one? Fabulous and fun!! The twists are delightful and the turns are unpredictable. I highly recommend it for a wonderful escape for her die-hard fans and skeptics alike.
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All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
Giffin’s insightful writing and compelling prose go way beyond what one usually finds in a family drama. She masterfully addresses the influence of social media and exposure on teens, family, and community, class and economic influences on the interpretation and handling of moral indiscretions, and the ability to ‘overlook’ character flaws in the ones we are closest to when the price of noticing feels too high…what more thought provoking themes could a reader want? And yet, the beauty of this writing is that it is smooth, believable, and never heavy-handed.
The story is of a son accused of sending a sexually explicit photo of a fellow high school student passed out at a party, with a racist comment underneath. We see this events unfold through several points of view– Nina, the mother who struggles to understand who her son and husband really are, and therefore who she has become, Lyla, the teenage girl whose sole desire is to fit in at a school where she is economically disadvantaged, and Tom, her brilliantly written working-class single father. For me, the class issues that this addresses could not be more timely. It is a story well told, and a perfect book club read.
Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this wonderful novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Something In The Water by Catherine Steadman
It is impossible to believe that this is Catherine Steadman’s debut novel. She has truly hit the mark with this suspenseful, and compelling psychological thriller. It is a masterfully written mystery that keeps the reader engaged from beginning to end with an unexpected and satisfying twist.
Steadman has written this delightfully macabre tail from the first person point-of-view, which works out perfectly for the reader to enter the mind of a gutsy, if somewhat naive and flawed, documentary filmmaker. We see the plot unfold solely from Erin’s perspective and have no desire to know more than she knows until it is time. We love seeing what she does with the information she gets, the fears and paranoia she experiences, and the miscues that get thrown her (and our) way. We watch, eyes half covered, as Erin, our protagonist, declines many chances to take the safe way out of a risky and potentially lethal opportunity in order to strike it rich in support of her new husband down on his luck. We understand her promises to demure, promises meant when they are made, but ultimately impossible for her to keep as she impulsively projects herself deeper and deeper into the gamble. And why do we know this so well and believe it to be true? Because Steadman has so flawlessly made Erin come alive on the page in a way usually reserved for authors with many more books behind them. I rarely find a debut author with such skill and insight.
Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this wonderful thriller through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Lies by T. M. Logan
Release date: 9/11/18
A thrilling, fast-paced experience from start to finish, I found Lies by T. M. Logan absolutely satisfied my yearnings for a great suspense novel. Our well-meaning protagonist, Joe Lynch, finds himself returning in his mind to that one moment when everything changed, when he could have just kept on his usual path home—home to his simple, but gratifying life. Yet in that moment he impulsively turns as he happens to see his wife’s car pull into a parking garage. He takes what appears to be an innocent enough detour at the bequest of his young son who wants to surprise his mum with that day’s proud moment of an earned award from school. And in that split second decision Joe’s life begins to slowly spiral out of control— he descends down the rabbit hole created by lies, deceptions, and a betrayal that he never could have foreseen.
We’ve all had moments, haven’t we? Times in which forks in the road change our lives forever, where there’s no going back. And Joe’s moment may bring many to mind for the reader. But Joe’s moment is as extreme in the end as it starts out ordinary in the beginning. It pulls his life and his now vulnerable future into a world of chaos and intrigue that threatens to destroy everything dear to him. It is frighteningly paced saga in which all eyes begin to look accusingly at Joe— he is deserted by his friends, his colleagues, his lawyer, the police, and is suspicious of his wife, leaving him isolated and alone. His ability to unravel this mystery is his only hope to save his fate. It is the moment we all fear.
Lies is a well-written plot with plenty of twists and unpredictable turns, with characters developed to fully engross the reader in the story, flipping page after page to the very end. Enjoy!
Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this wonderful debut novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Snap by Belinda Bauer
This is my third novel by Belinda Bauer and in her style that I find very gratifying— namely a well-designed plot with intriguing characters. Personally, I found the quirky protagonist in Rubberneckers and the endearing young lad in Blacklands quite compelling and was extremely impressed with Bauer’s ability to take the reader into a head very different from one’s own and stay there, delighted, for an entire novel. The main character in Snap was one in which I could easily sympathize with, given his history, but just a bit less engrossing than those of previous Bauer novels. Nonetheless, the plot and mystery behind this boy’s desire to find the truth about his mother, engages the reader to join him on his journey.
Thank you to both the publisher and the author for allowing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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I See You by Clare Mackintosh
Mackintosh’s second novel, I See You, is not to be missed by the reader who loves a good suspense-thriller. All obligatory scenes of this genre are carried out masterfully– sympathetic victims, the terror of potential future crimes, red herrings, the hero at the mercy of the villain, and a false ending followed by a surprising twist– but with no sense of formulaic predictability. MacKintosh’s profound personal knowledge of life in law enforcement is evident in her writing. But most compelling, is the premise– women on their mundane and predictable daily commutes in London are unknowingly becoming targets as their profiles and patterns are sold for profit. A police officer who has difficulty following orders, and a potential victim who has happened upon an ad with her own photo, find themselves marching faster and faster to unravel the mystery behind this deadly cat-and-mouse game before the another woman is killed. I very much look forward to the next Clare Mackintosh novel.
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Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Absolutely one of my favorite books. Ng’s ability to tell a story from many distinct characters’ points of view is awe inspiring. Her characters are vibrant and complex– their emotions deeply felt by the reader. This is a compelling story about an Asian-American family in the 1970’s in which parents attempt to work out their historical conflicts and disappointments through their children and the children bond tightly to protect themselves from this pressure–and all comes to a head with the sudden death of their teenage daughter. Yet summarizing this plot makes it appear trite and ordinary. Nothing could be further from the truth. The beauty of Ng’s work is in the telling. It is truly a masterpiece.
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Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Never to disappoint, Ann Patchett takes her readers on a complex journey of relationships, conflicts, loyalty, and forgiveness. Many authors struggle to show a well-developed character arc for their main character, but not Patchett. She does this in spades as she takes each and every one of her characters on irresistible personal journeys. In Commonwealth, the reader is introduced to two couples, their complex relationships, and their combined six children, all told in a timeframe that is not chronologic. Yet each character’s struggle holds the reader’s interest tight– their flaws, their growth, their changes, and their resistance to change–a masterful example of character development and depth. The non-linear time jumps serve an additional treasure to the reader as we are given the opportunity to fill in the blanks with what we know to be true about these characters–they are like family to us as well. This is a treasure for readers and aspiring writers alike.
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Coma by Robin Cook
Why Coma? Why now? As a classic medical suspense thriller published two years before I started medical school, taking place during the era of my current work-in-progress, I had to re-read this today to see how it weathers time. I also found it fascinating to read current readers’ reviews.
It holds together as all good thrillers should– fast paced, edge-of-your-seat story, compelling, bright, if extraordinarily stubborn amateur detective medical student, a touch of a love story, and sly villains. I loved it from beginning to end. My only concern is that today’s reader (myself included) likes to become a bit more intimate with the inner workings and struggles of main characters, even within this plot-driven genre. Not that most of today’s thrillers do it that well either, but the great ones do. Nonetheless, this definitely is worth a re-read.
I don’t usually comment on other reviewers’ opinions, but I was fascinated by some of the critiques. Some found it “dated” because it mentions transistor radios, $600 hit jobs, etc. I saw this as “current” for its time, which is to say it now plays as historical fiction with scenes that are absolutely true to the era (how else could one write in the ’70’s?…or any contemporary era that is then read 40 years later?). Of course it sounds dated. It must be seen as a period-piece. The other review critique I see is to put today’s values on yesteryear’s characters. What we used to call ‘looking through the ‘retrospectoscope’ in medical school, or commonly called Monday morning quarterbacking. “Why would a smart young female medical student get romantically involved with a misogynistic surgical resident?” is asked. I had to laugh. Were there any other choices back then? The norm of being seen as not a doctor, but a ‘girl doctor,’ and all that comes with it, was so ubiquitous that it would be like pointing out that there was air in the room.
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Choosing Higher Ground: Working and Living in the Values Economy by Michael Weisman with Beth Jusino
Weisman and Jusino walk both the seasoned businessman and the novice entrepreneur through an understanding of the elements that create lasting and meaningful corporate cultures. Their analyses of the various successful components are clear, memorable, and dotted with numerous interesting examples that will resonate with the experience of most readers whether you are a business owner, an employee, or a savvy customer. This book helps business leaders grapple with their values and hopes and use these components to build an organization that is not only financially strong, but is sustainable and gratifying at a much deeper level. “Influential values distinguish your company from all competitors, draw a loyal community of dedicated followers, and can change the way people view your brand and your category.”
Although it may not have been the intended focus of this book, employees and customers also have much to gain from these principles. Employees often have a vague sense of toxic versus inspiring work environments, but having a structured understanding is helpful in deciding which job to take or which one to quit. As consumers, most of us know that we prefer certain brands or businesses over others, but Weisman and Jusino articulate the why. Choosing Higher Ground has much to enlighten us all and push our interactions with the business community into a more conscious and intentional relationship.
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Headlong Into Fury by Ron White
Have you ever attended a family gathering, yours or a friend’s, and impulsively decided to do the charitable thing, and sit next to the elderly man alone in the corner? Cantankerous and un-engaging at first, you immediately regret your decision. Yet you persist and something slowly shifts. Somehow you’ve provided the space for him to speak, to take you on his internal journey to a place and time you’ve only read about in the most banal and sanitized history textbooks. You find yourself mesmerized.
Ron White takes you on such a journey in this compelling novel, told in the first-person, as his step-father’s memoir. The brilliance of this work is the manner in which White captures the voice so common to men of a certain era– the innocent naivety towards women, the understatement of the most dramatic life-threatening events, the need for stoic suppression of emotion to survive.
In addition to the fascinating story of this young pilot, one learns an extraordinary amount of compelling tidbits about this war that bring it all to life– the role of the Coca-cola company in WWII, the impact of racial divides within the military, the life-saving aid brought to our downed airmen by Yugoslavian youth–to name just a few. White’s impressive research is interwoven in this tale to both delight and educate the reader in a manner that is sure to enchant those of us with fathers or grandfathers from what Tom Brokaw called The Greatest Generation.
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Desert of This Beauty by Lesa Caldarella-Wong
This is a pre-publication review, prior to the cover being finalized, and I will add the cover when it is available.
I am honored to have received a pre-publication copy of poet Calderlla-Wong’s second book in exchange for an honest review. Truthfully, I had been so taken with her first poetry collection, Real Bread, containing reflections on the author’s experiences in war-torn Africa, that I hesitated to pick up this next collection, fearing disappointment. Fortunately, I had no need for such a fear.
“we wait much too long to tell our versions of truth, squandering our talents and dreams
watching as our intentions and youth slip away.” ~taken from Versions, Desert of This Beauty
Desert of This Beauty is intensely evocative, rich with threads of the wisdom that comes from a life fully lived with all of its beauty, disappointments, secrets, sensuality, hope, and regrets. Calderella-Wong shows the strength that comes from not turning away from the dark, but rather taking it all in with acceptance, noticing what others might try to ignore. The author’s voice comes through as a woman who positions herself ready for love, romance, and passion. Yet she is not such a romantic that she is blind to the hardships of life that present themselves uninvited and need to be faced, grappled with, and ultimately incorporated into one’s life without bitterness.
This is a must-read for poetry readers, and possibly primarily for women who can relate to this diversity of life experience and will be relieved to find themselves on many a page.
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The Far End of Happy by Kathryn Craft
Provocative, intriguing, and impossible to put down, Kathryn Craft’s novel will have the reader fully engaged far beyond the last page. The description gives the framework– the 12 hour ordeal of a family’s experience as their suicidal loved one is holed-up alone with a gun and the police attempt to negotiate outside. But the telling of this story is what makes Craft’s work irresistible. She explores the backstory through their guilt-ridden memories, sprinkled with the glory days of the past, to paint a realistic picture of the complexities of people’s lives and their relationships. The reader’s potential sense of being the uncomfortable, if somewhat voyeuristic, observer of tragedy is placated by knowing that the author is well-versed from personal experience in this story and clearly inviting us in as witnesses. The beauty of her writing is not only in what she tells, but also in her exquisite lack of heavy-handed moralizing or any sense that the reader’s emotions are being played. On the contrary, she shows us the raw truth of complicated feelings as a family tragedy unfolds– full of support, love, loyalty, and devotion, as well as accusations, anger, frustration, and family secrets that get exposed and resolved in this 12 hour drama.
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The Truth About Thea by Amy Impellizzeri
Amy Impellizzeri has outdone herself in this third novel about deception, lies, and the complex motives behind tightly held secrets. Many reviewers have raved about the twists, turns, and unforeseen paths this intricate plot takes. All true, and one cannot over-sell this part of Impellizzeri’s writing. But for me, the true joy of reading The Truth About Thea lies in the experience of being inside of Thea’s head. Her perspective on the world, her snarky (yet not tediously so) observations of others, her confidence, her drive– all create a desire to savor this novel from beginning to end. Yes, the plot is fabulous and full of tangled surprises, but where Impellizzeri truly excels is her ability to take the reader on a joy ride of experiencing this story through Thea’s unique perspective.
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The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypole White
The Promise Between Us is a must-read for anyone considering a career in mental health or anyone whose life has been touched by those with anxiety, depression, or PTSD. It is also likely to be a much-needed comfort for those who struggle with these symptoms themselves. Throughout this compelling family saga, all previous notions of motherhood, sacrifice, despair, hope, and love are challenged, and the reader is left with a rich experience beyond the story told.
The respect with which the author approaches her characters is stunning– she shows more compassion for their struggles and flaws than they can initially muster for themselves, and she patiently helps them circle closer and closer to bravely confront their demons in order to become their better selves.
I was also impressed with the author’s ability to tell this story from five well-differentiated points of view, each as intriguing and compelling as the other (in my experience, a rare feat). Characters are deep, complicated, and flawed in ways that draw the reader into the mysteries that lie in each.
I highly recommend this novel as a fabulous book club choice. It pulls for a shared experience and intriguing discussions.
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Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
What a treasure! This was my first book by Pulitzer Prize winning Jhumpa Lahiri, and certainly won’t be my last. Lahiri writes with the beautiful prose so fitting to her subject matter — displacement, melancholy, and the depths of complex emotions that accompany second-generation immigrants as they struggle to fit into a culture that is only partially their own. Her understated elegance gives each short story a richness one usually only finds in full-length novels.
This book was given to me by a dear friend, shortly after my home burned in the California Wildfires. Lahiri addresses issues of displacement and belonging like no other. and it turned out to be the perfect gift. Many a reader can find themselves in her characters and their struggles, their not-so-perfect reactions and thoughts, and be comforted by the respect Lahiri has for it all.
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Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
Bauer brings the reader into the minds of her intriguing main characters, not just their motivations and oddly entertaining habits, but the details of their idiosyncratic thinking and philosophies that range from the meaning of desire, to the logic of which half of a diagonally cut sandwich is the preferred half by a twelve-year-old–and rest assured, none of it is tedious or trite. Rather, it seduces one to smile with delight despite the tension of a well-orchestrated thriller. In this way, she nails pacing like no other.
Although this is Bauer’s debut novel, it was not my first Bauer. I had so enjoyed Rubbernecker that I decided to go back to the beginning and see where it all began (at least in her published novels). Questions I ask: Are the characters compelling enough to care about their journeys? Is the POV a voice I like to hear; a psyche I want to share (even if disturbing)? Does this book keep me referring back to scenes or a character’s plights and resolutions in the days, weeks, or longer that follow the last page read? In all of these important ways, with Blacklands by Belinda Bauer, there is a resounding YES!
This was my first book through Audible. I typically like the feel of the paper in bed, or the convenience of Kindle on a plane. I decided to try an Audible read while working out. The results? Not being able to “put it down” leads to more time on the Elliptical than ever before. I had a fabulous read, a well told story, intriguing deep characters in my head, pacing that was brilliant, AND got into shape. What could be better?
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Shrill, Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West
Having heard Lindy West on a This American Life podcast interview, I was thrilled when her book hit the stands, and it did not disappoint. West is a brilliant, articulate, and delightfully funny feminist who boldly challenges the hidden assumptions and prejudices of even the most self-aware. West is an important voice and my attempts to review her book will not do it justice. Just read it.
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Naked We Came by Robert Lane
Naked We Came was my first Robert Lane novel and the 5th in his Jake Travis series. I received this free from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review, and thank them and the author for this opportunity.
I thoroughly enjoyed this murder mystery. There were several ways that this author sets himself apart from many in his genre.
Twists and turns are typical for suspense mysteries, but Lane’s plot did more than just lead the reader down dead-ends and false leads. Instead of the usual linear sequence of potential suspects that a reader is convinced is the perpetrator, only to learn different and throw that character away for the next, Lane has the reader circling back and forth–alternating strong convictions of the innocence or guilt of several characters. I particularly enjoyed the surprising revelations of the contributions of a few minor characters to the holding of secrets due to their own selfishness.
I was also pleasantly entertained by the occasional addition of the main character’s philosophical musings:
“Who is to judge how heavy someone else’s invisible suitcase is?”
“There are no more answers found abstaining from alcohol than there are from indulging in it.”
Or his struggles with his past:
“The past was like the rudder of the boat: always behind you but directing where you go.”
And later: “The past is like a dog trying to shake off water. You just keep shaking and shaking and shaking. Finally you lie down, still wet.”…It just doesn’t get better than that imagery!
Bottomline: Enjoyable, fun, thought-provoking, and entertaining….and for me, a fabulous diversion (Full disclosure: my house burned to the ground in the California Wildfires while I was reading this novel…loved the diversion!).
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The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pakkanen
If you are an avid reader of psychological thrillers, this book is for you. The two main female characters are written with a depth and clear separation of personality that the keeps readers moving quickly to understand their plight. The authors write in a style that pulls the reader into the characters’ compulsions and impulses such that even when you’d advise differently–sitting comfortably in your favorite reading chair–you close your eyes and say: “oh, no, don’t do that”–yet, you’re also completely aware of the motivations to do the ill-advised action that are guaranteed to lead to danger and not sure you’d do otherwise yourself. Well-done.
Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
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The Distance Home by Orly Konig
“Now the daddy-boulder has been lifted from my self-doubt and I don’t trust my legs to know the right direction.”
Emma Metz’s father has died, forcing her to return to where she grew up to face her demons…and be reminded of her passions. Author Orly Konig weaves a complex and compelling story of friendship and betrayal, loss and the power to recover–all centered around a young woman who finds the strength to ultimately challenge the myths of her youth. It is a beautifully written story about discovering secrets and learning to forgive.
I highly recommend this for book clubs as it can lead to so many different discussions regarding aspects of youth, girl-friendships and the power they can hold (for the better and worst), and growing up to let go of the insecurities that keep us from following our dreams.
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The Wispering Room by Dean Koontz
…a fun and captivating read!
“In a time when the multitudes of the earth seemed to be dividing into just two categories, prey and predators, it was remarkable how unattuned the gazelles could be to the gathering leopards all around them.”
“Once truth was known, it could not be unlearned, nor could it be forgotten, but lay always in the heart, a darkness for which all the years ahead would be spent seeking whatever light could be found to compensate.”
Honestly, I picked this advanced reader copy from NetGalley as an experiment– I had never read Koontz (despite having seen so many of his best sellers in airports all over the world) and this is the second in a series in which I had (obviously) not read the first. I wondered if this would render me a little lost, and feared that I just wouldn’t ‘get it’ (whatever ‘it’ was). As it turned out, I truly enjoyed this novel. It is an extremely compelling thriller with a fabulous protagonist, intriguing characters throughout, a complicated twisty plot, and Koontz has a wonderful writing style. I have read other reviews by readers who read the first in this series and state that one must read the first to understand this second. Not true! This novel stands alone and is a fun David and Goliath (correction: Jane and Goliath) thriller that is delightfully entertaining.
My experiment question–Can the virgin Koontz reader plop themselves into the middle of a series and come out more than satisfied at the other end?–was answered with a resounding: Yes!
Thank you to Netgalley and Bantam for the ARC, which was given in exchange for an honest review.
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Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer
Highly recommended! This mystery-thriller is a one-of-a-kind. The extraordinarily unique perspectives of our main characters kept me glued to this novel for hours. First and foremost, we have Patrick Fort, a young anatomy student with Asperger’s Syndrome, who begins to suspect there is something odd about the death of his cadaver. His way of thinking is so well-written, that readers will find themselves completely in-step with his oddities. A new appreciation of those who think differently will stay with the reader well beyond this novel, not from a clinical, studied, heavy-handed understanding, but rather from experiencing it all from the inside such that it ultimately makes more sense than one’s own perspective. Truly brilliantly written.
Second, we have the astute and entertaining observational skills of Samuel Galen, a partially-conscious, partially-comatose, victim of a motor vehicle accident on a neurology ward. To top it off, we have a gold-digging young nurse, an alcoholic mother, a not-so-innocent suave husband, a brilliantly empathic female medical student, and a host of others that color this clever novel and come alive on the page with Bauer’s remarkable talent. Bauer is certainly an author to follow.
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Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris
This is my first B.A. Paris book, but definitely won’t be my last. Behind Closed Doors is your classic, page-turning, domestic thriller that satisfies all readers of that genre. At first you wonder how could our bright female protagonist get herself into such a pickle, but author Paris does an excellent job of walking us quickly (and terrifyingly) through that process. Our protagonist has a noble goal: to save not only herself, but also to save her beloved younger sister with Down’s Syndrome from her seemingly perfect yet psychopathically sadistic husband who is very clever to create a world in which she can obtain very little help from others. Of course, you know she’ll make it out, that is never the question. The seduction of this book is to learn how she does it and when, and that becomes the satisfaction of the ending.
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Writing the Intimate Character by Jordan Rosenfeld
I have now finished my second reading of Writing the Intimate Character, and it is likely not my last. I first read it cover to cover to get the full impact. Then I returned to go through it slower and do the exercises at the end of each chapter that pertained to my current manuscript. I found it enlightening, insightful, and it certainly helped me think more clearly about my protagonist and other characters. It goes beyond character development to help think about the pace and rhythm of narrative voice, dialogue, and internal monologue as well as to help authors evaluate the most effective point of view for their work. I highly recommend this book and will be buying other books by this author.
Interestingly, I was fortunate enough to meet the author at the San Francisco Writers Conference this year and subsequently took a workshop from her in Corte Madera. I was impressed not only with what she had to say, but with what she brought out in my work and that of the other authors as we worked through some of the exercises (which I usually hate to do in those kinds of settings!…don’t operate well under time pressures, yet…it was fabulous). I just had to have this book…and it surpassed my expectations.
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That Existential Leap: a crime story by Dolan Cummings
That Existential Leap: a crime story by Dolan Cummings is the kind of book you just want to be immersed in, hoping it doesn’t end. The two male protagonists, one primarily in New York, one in Scotland, both flawed and engaging, allow the reader a thought-provoking exposure to two minds that stimulate your own existential thoughts as these characters navigate their worlds. Most interesting, That Existential Leap:…does not hit you over the head with heady academic philosophy. Rather these young men of working class roots take you into their insights and struggles with just the right amount of intrigue of character and quirky uniqueness without being annoying—a feat not easily attained.
We are introduced to Siegfried, who seems to be a cross between his idol, Raskolnikov, from Crime and Punishment and Ignatius J. Reilly, from Confederacy of Dunces, through the insightful eyes of his young girlfriend as she attempts to manage her own existential questions of how to enter adulthood. She notes that according to Siegfried:
“The narrow and predictable biography of the average human being is really quite disturbing. What is more disturbing perhaps is that this is no secret. Everybody who has ever bothered to think about it can see that there are infinite possibilities in life, and yet still they plow that same furrow, or at least choose their furrows from the same field, so to speak. Siegfried wouldn’t have objected if they were talking about a good field, but really it isn’t a good field at all. The deliberate choice of a dull and miserable life seemed to Siegfried to be inexcusable, and yet it was the norm, the reality.”
And Alexander, our brilliantly dysphoric detective from Scotland presents his own existential musings that are less heady yet equally intriguing and seductive.
“Alexander realized that his love was dead. But he began to see something new in Laura. Something that suggested the relationship might be worth pursuing after all. Not the promise of happiness that he had never really wanted anyway, but something far more in keeping with his personality, and indeed his ambition. As the love that had become lust turned finally to resentment, it hit him. Laura would make an excellent wife.”
I found that I was highlighting and re-reading many lines or paragraphs, looking up to ponder the narrative, smiling to myself about the places it led me, or reading to whomever was near—this is a sign of a novel that challenges without overwhelming. I highly recommend The Existential Leap: a crime story, and look forward to the next novel by Dolan Cummings.
I received this novel as an Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. As you can see from my review, I very much appreciated the opportunity. Publication date is May 26,2017.
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The Ship by Antonia Honeywell
It starts off very strong, the world-building is exceptional, and the main character engages the reader. The end is also quite fabulous, and the ambiguity is perfect—it leaves the reader knowing that what is important is the decision, not the outcome.
Unfortunately, the middle drags and the protagonist begins to seem petulant and annoying, and the reader’s empathy for her wanes. The middle is why I can only give this novel 3.5 stars, instead of the 5 stars that the beginning and end deserve. I felt that the motivations of the father character could have been explored (beyond creating a safe place for his daughter as that could’ve been accomplished without making himself such a guru to the others). What this ship-world accomplished for his own psychological needs is left to speculation, but could have been an interesting addition. Also, the middle could have developed more about the other passengers’ willingness to give up the freedom of independent ego states. Why was this given up without resistance? Didn’t any of them have ambivalence, and if so how did they resolve this, and if not, why not?
Overall, a very good book, but with a little more editing and a bit more development in the middle, The Ship could’ve been one of the truly great books of the year. As is, it is still very much worth the read, as the themes of freedom, happiness, and the meaning of our existence as presented in The Ship are deliciously thought-provoking. I look forward to the next book by this very talented author.
I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
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Dangerous Behavior by Walter Marks
Dangerous Behavior has a fun plot that keeps you guessing to the end. The main character is a psychiatrist who has an interesting perspective and helps you become fully immersed in his world. His world of psychiatric patients in the NY prisons was presented in a unique way. For me, there was some annoying distractions, like the mc/author’s obsession with women’s breasts which seemed to be the only part of the women that was interesting to the men, and that perspective got a bit tedious. It also seemed a bit sophomoric and unfortunately cheapens what would otherwise be very good writing. If one can overlook that, the plot keeps you engaged and the pages keep turning as you are driven to discover ‘who done it?’.
I originally picked this up to see how other writers portray psychiatrists who use their skills to solve a mystery. The author is not a psychiatrist himself, so at times there were pieces that did not ring true, but he does a fairly good job of not following for popular stereotypes. So, for me, this was a bit of a research project and I found myself in the mist of a fun-to-read story.
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The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson
The Bookseller creates more than the flipping back and forth between the two realities presented on the page–it beckons the reader to ponder the roads they, too, did not take and find themselves daydreaming about. For me, that is one of the major perks of this novel.
The Bookseller is well-written and the genre is well-executed. It had a few frustrations for me (as all books do), like the husband and parents seem a bit too unrealistically supportive and uncomplicated to believe, the husband too perfect and idealized for depth, but I could easily look past these to gain the many gold nuggets this novel provides. As a psychiatrist, in the end I found the strength of the protagonist’s “dreams” that were ultimately dissociations hard to believe given the inciting trauma and her lack of a childhood traumatic basis for such a reaction.
But the theme has relevance nonetheless. It challenges the reader to think about when and why we might find ourselves daydreaming alternate stories for our lives, based on taking a different course at the no-way-to-turn-back decision points that lead to our current reality.
I highly recommend this novel to individuals who like a good story as well as one that leaves them thinking way beyond the last page, and to book clubs who are looking for a discussion that melts the book’s theme with the personal.
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The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond
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End of Secrets by Ryan Quinn
An enjoyable dystopian thriller may sound like an oxymoron, but Ryan Quinn’s End of Secrets is quite delightful to those who are love to delve into the dark side. This was one of the more difficult books for me to review because the writing is a bit uneven. There could awkward phrases that made me cringe, as if the author was trying too hard… but then I’d come across brilliantly phrased philosophical truisms that I had to highlight and contemplate much after finishing this novel. I ultimately found the later to outweigh the former, and the reader is ultimately swept away with the plot. It is not as fast moving as some thrillers until the final dozen or so chapters when the pace really picks up. The internal plot is one of a maturation disillusionment (much like Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs) and the external plot delivers as a well-constructed thriller with many unique and interesting story lines that kept me engaged throughout. I certainly look forward to reading another novel by Ryan Quinn.
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The Patriots by Sana Krasikov
I highly recommend The Patriots by Sana Krasikov to readers interested in smart, well-written Literary Fiction with a unique story, complex characters, and historical intrigue. Krasikov brings the reader into the mind of a young American women, Florence Fein, who chooses to go to Russia in the 1930s to follow her ideals of the socialist vision and encounters love, friendship, hope, betrayal, guilt, despair, torturous imprisonment, and ultimate release with the changing political climates from the 1930s to the 1980s. Florence is challenged to come to grips with the choices she has made and the impact those choices have on loved ones. Juxtaposed to Florence’s story, is her son’s more modern first-person narrative of his struggles to understand the life and decisions of his mother, and grasp the secrets that are ultimately revealed.
Most important is how absorbing it feels to live within the mood and tone of this exquisitely written novel. Krasikov should be applauded for her well-executed debut novel that allures the reader into a world most have very little experience in and she creates an atmosphere in which we gain a new-found knowledge.
I received an advanced release copy of The Patriots from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Sleight by Sloane Kady
Sleight by Sloane Kady is a phenomenally well-executed psychological suspense novel that keeps the reader engaged from beginning to end in order to discover the secrets within this very injured family. The voice of the protagonist, Bryce, is particularly compelling in its unique, sassy, punky style that shows the skill of a very sophisticated author. For a taste, readers should sample the first paragraph in which Bryce’s voice and perspective is brilliantly conveyed with a in-your-face immediacy that promises to take you on a fast and curious ride…and then, importantly, Sleight does not fail on that promise, but pays out with continuous reveals and an inevitable yet surprising ending.
This is the first book I’ve read from this author, but will definitely not be my last as her style is so attractive. I highly recommend it to readers who enjoy delving into novels with unique and compelling voice, suspenseful reveals, and satisfying endings, but not afraid of the dark side of humanity.
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From Shoeshine to Star Wars by Walt Jourdan & Lee Jourdan
From Shoeshine to Star Wars by Walt Jourdan & Lee Jourdan is a remarkable memoir of a remarkable man. For someone, like myself, who sees herself as too jaded for inspirational books, this one challenged me to the core. Walt Jourdan’s tenacity and fortitude is truly awe-inspiring and takes the reader through a time and place in history that would be forever lost if it weren’t for such memoirs. What makes this particular story most interesting is the depth of the voice that comes through in the writing. You feel spoken to by a great man looking back at his extraordinary life.
It is a fantastic book to sit down with a warm cup of tea (or brandy, if the time is right) and settle in for a story that at first you might think could be told at a family Thanksgiving dinner by your tale-telling uncle with everyone nodding politely. But soon you find yourself putting down that drink and absorbed in a world with the vicissitudes of ups and downs, good luck and bad, love and devotion, and exceptional talent that far exceeds any family stories I’ve heard. This man’s intelligence, gregariousness, and willingness to step forward with whatever gets thrown his way is truly inspiring. Long after you finish and set this book aside, what remains is the impression that anything is possible through hard work and undaunted motivation. I highly recommend this read (even to my fellow cynics!)
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City of Saints & Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson
“People don’t look for revenge to make them happy. They do it because they must.”
City of Saints & Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson is a fast-paced YA book with edgy themes and current relevance. As a murder mystery in the thriller external genre, it also has a strong and compelling internal coming-of-age genre that is perfect both for the YA audience as well as for adults.
Natalie Anderson should be thoroughly congratulated for her accomplishment in this debut novel on many fronts: compelling characters, twisty plots, red herrings, surprises, and most uniquely, she brought the plight of refugees from war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo into the hearts of readers (including those of us from the west). If one of the author’s desires was for the western reader, especially the YA reader, to think of these African characters as having wants and desires no different from their own (family, love, safety, but also troubled by understandable and legitimate revenge fantasies), and then finish the book with the question of “What would I do if…?,” then Anderson was extremely successful without being heavy-handed. Bravo.
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Southern Gothic by Dale Wiley
Southern Gothic by Dale Wiley is a smart, masterfully orchestrated, complicated thriller. At first glance, the premise of a book-within-a-book might seem distracting. It is not. Both story lines keep the reader engaged page after page and compelled to stay up much later than planned, as this book is nearly impossible to put down.
Wiley’s character, Michael Black, is a talented but deranged best-selling author. Wiley doesn’t merely tell us that with the response Black gets from his fans and sales, Wiley shows us by having us read Black’s writing. This is a very gutsy move on Dale Wiley’s part— to ‘imitate’ the writing of a fictional acclaimed author and do it in such a way that the reader, too, is awed by the writing—a feat not many could carry off. But this is only one of the ways in which Wiley shows his brilliance.
Black’s writing is also essential to understanding clues to the complex, erotic, and ultimately sadistic relationship Black develops with women, including Meredith Harper, a younger aspiring author in the main narrative. Meredith’s plight is one that is all too familiar and in that way it is most frightening to the empathic reader. In an instant, surrounded by her closest friends and overwhelmed by a golden opportunity, she fails to come clean about a deception. This momentary lapse in judgement leads her into the spiral of Wiley’s well-crafted cat and mouse game, and readers will find themselves fully engrossed to the very end.
This was my first Dale Wiley novel and I have now added his others to my Goodreads’ “Want to Read” list. This is truly one of the best books I’ve read this year.
I received this novel via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the author and the publisher, Vesuvian Books, for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
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Reef Fish Identification: Caribbean, Bahamas, South Florida by Paul Humann and Ned Deloach
I have delayed reviewing this book as it requires me to commit to “finishing” it. One never finishes this book. It is a truly fabulous, informative, and beautifully presented reference book that accompanies me to the Caribbean time after time on my dive trips. In group dive trips, I am forever wrestling it back from my fellow divers–so much so that I had to give the dive couple we usually dive with a copy of their own. Humann not only helps you identify the various Caribbean creatures in the usual way of pointing out distinguishing features and identifying marks, he also helps you understand the relationship between seemingly very different fish (like how a pretty little Fairy Basslet is related to those big, impressive Bass). And, of course, I can’t give enough praise to Ned Deloach’s photography–truly amazing work. I had the privilege a few years ago of meeting Mr. Deloach and his talented videographer wife at a lecture at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego and felt like it was meeting the true giants in a very specialized field–quite an honor. For scuba divers, snorkelers, or just lovers of sea creatures, this is a must have.
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Kill The Next One by Federico Axat
Kill the Next One is a well-crafted twisty suspense that is likely to strike some readers as quite brilliant whereas other readers will find the unreliable POV difficult to follow. I especially loved the first half of the book in which the reader is taken through the internal experience of a man whose perceptions and memories are constantly shifting. I know other reviewers have found this confusing and annoying, but I found it fascinating and intriguing. It requires the reader to go down each and every rabbit hole; to allow oneself to be absorbed by the perception-of-the-moment without investing in the reality of it, except as it pertains to the protagonsit’s experience and clues about the various mysteries at play.
In the second half, unfortunately I was a bit distracted by the psychiatric hospital scenes that just weren’t believable to me (full disclosure: I’m a psychiatrist and have worked for over 30 years in psych hospitals). But when I was able to set that aside, the plot and the relationships between key characters continued to pull me into this dark and twisty novel.
I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to reading other novels by this author.
Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this novel prior to publication in exchange for an honest review.
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The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
Six points of view may seem excessive, and yet I found each and every one of them very separate, distinctive, and engaging. Whalen’s ability to balance who told the story as it progresses, kept me turning pages, anxious to see how this next character resolved (or didn’t) their particular piece of the events of this small town. The first 2/3 of the book were especially compelling. I felt fully engaged with these characters and wanted to know their backstory and the resolution of their difficulties. Unfortunately the resolutions of all of these characters’ difficulties were a bit too predictable and joyful (for me, a bit annoyingly so), with less personal angst, for my taste.
Additionally, when it is stated that a young child who has undergone and (comes out of) a particularly horrendous extended experience is said to now have “a future ahead of her that was as bright as she chose to make it,” I was disturbed by the naivety regarding trauma that this implies- as if trauma victims who have difficulties in recovery can choose to reverse the damages. Yes, this was only one line, but I found it quite troubling.
The good guys stay good, if not heroic, and the bad guys stay bad and are punished. So, if one is looking for a light, enjoyable read, this is a wonderful choice.
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Le Chateau by Sarah Ridout
Sarah Ridout’s debut novel, Le Chateau, is a fast, page-turning story that kept me fully engaged to the last page. The premise of a mysterious accident that leaves the main character, Charlotte, confused and unable to trust the people around her and the stories she is told, leads the reader down the path of inquiry with her. One of my favorite things about reading fiction is when a good author takes my thoughts beyond their story. In this, Ridout does not disappoint.
Charlotte has a combination of Traumatic Brain Injury and psychologic repression resulting in a memory loss of the previous 5 years, with full memory prior to that. She proceeds with a slow, steady process of re-gaining hints and clips of memory as she separates from the incident both temporally and geographically. As a physician and psychiatrist (full disclosure) I found this combination plausible and the premise of its evolution and ultimate solution quite interesting. I struggled a bit however with the introduction of a ‘potion’ (tea) that was never fully explained, a hint at powerful psychic powers that some people have genetically, and a forced hypnosis (which is hard to imagine). Nonetheless, the question of how one’s life would be experienced if the previous 5 years were suddenly erased is provocative indeed, and is a fabulous book club discussion.
In the end it became more of a romance than the darker, gothic mystery/thriller I had expected from the description, but in that genre it succeeds.
This is a well-done debut novel from an author with much talent and I think it will appeal to readers of romance and women’s fiction with an added bit of suspense and a thought-provoking plot.
I received this novel via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the author and the publisher, Echo, for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
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The Round House by Louise Erdrich
After spending almost a decade working as a psychiatrist in a native clinic, I resisted Erdrich’s work due to fearing that it would be, quite frankly, too much like my work (I read for pleasure!) or fall into one of the two categories I find all too common–namely either an over-idealization of native culture or an oppressive narrative of reservation poverty. This novel was neither. Maybe that is true of all of Erdrich’s novels. I don’t know as this was my first…but it won’t be my last.
Erdrich masterfully envelops the reader into the world of Joe, a 13 year old boy whose mother has been subjected to a heinous crime. She and the family are left with the aftermath of both the trauma and the knowledge that the perpetrator is not likely to be brought to justice. Eldrich’s handling of Joe is truly impressive and it is a pleasure to spend time observing how he navigates the complexity of his surroundings while attempting to grow up. The reader is immersed in the convolutions of Joe’s empathic pain for his mother, his frustrations over her lack of recovery, his struggles with his own adolescent emotions and emerging sexuality, his loyalty to friends, and his coming-of-age development that brings him to taking matters into his own hands.
It is a novel that stimulates much thought long after the last page is read, and I highly recommend it.
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The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
I’ve read other excellent reviewers who found the changes in POV and changes in time confusing, but for me they worked quite well. In fact, the story and the suspense wouldn’t have worked without these jumps and I very much liked trying to figure out who thought what when. All 3 female characters (the 3 POVs) have their perspectives, their differences, and their psychological limitations, so being inside each separately adds to the plots tension.
It’s hard to believe that this is a first novel by Paula Hawkins and I look forward to her next. The Girl on the Train is a fast read and I recommend it highly.
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Room by Emma Donoghue
This book came highly recommended from an old friend and fellow writer whom I trust, but still I hesitated. I had (horror of horrors) already seen the movie. Normally I wouldn’t have made such an elementary faux pax, but there had been only 4 degrees of separation to the director (my husband’s cousin’s best friend’s son!), so there were no choices, right?
As it turns out, knowing the plot and outcome did nothing to spoil this read. Emma Donoghue is a fabulous author and her decision to write this tale completely from the POV of a 5 year old is quite gutsy as it could so easily have wavered between tedious and unbelievable. Yet her handling of Jack shows a careful study of a real child and not the projected internal voice of an adult. His desire to hold onto the familiar will ring true for any parent who has suffered through 50-odd showings of a child’s favorite DVD (my sons’ was “Land Before Time”) and yet the contrast between my very ordinary example and Jack’s disturbing and somewhat haunting experience stays with the reader for exactly that reason. An ordinary child and a young, traumatized, inexperienced mother who had no guidance outside of her own instincts, normalizes an extraordinary experience in order to protect the psyche. This all gets challenged when everything changes and he has to start all over in his understanding of his new world. He desperately holds on to the comfort he finds in the familiar, struggles with his mother’s rejection of their shared past, and yet holds a cautious child’s curiosity about the new and shiny. In this way, Donoghue shows her expertise.
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Wreckage by Emily Bleeker
The plot was compelling enough to keep me reading (voyeuristically) but the depth of character development left me rolling my eyes too much for serious engagement. We must have been told of the beauty of the female protagonist so many times (enough already!) and yet her continued damsel-in-distress position in life became a bit of a yawn. Even when she bravely acts, she collapses quickly afterwards requiring men to comfort and save her. The author seemed a bit compulsed to come to a happy ending instead of a possible edgy ambiguity that would have made this a bit more thought provoking.
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El Alquimista by Paulo Coelho
I am a native English speaker, but am reading this with my Spanish teacher (advanced intermediate level). It is a lovely book in Spanish, although originally written in Portuguese, and is a fabulous way to improve your vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (if read out loud). More importantly, it is a truly excellent and beautiful book. In fact, the story was so compelling that I stayed up all night to finish the book ahead of our readings for class. I look forward to moving on to other books by Paulo Coelho.
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The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Truly literary genius. Nguyen’s voice is mesmerizing, dark yet not morbid, more curious. His story challenges Americans to search deep into their sense of history, their comfort with a simplistic, yet false narrative that we have allowed ourselves to settle upon and that helps us close a difficult chapter. His story requires us to revisit this and become more honest. In many ways this is comforting, as we’ve known all along, and having it said out loud is a relief.
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Real Bread by Lesa Caldarella-Wong
Engrossing. Lesa Caldarella-Wong uses poetry and prose to ‘take you there’ with a style and voice that is both mesmerizing and paralyzing. She equally gives voice to the horrors and the heart-beat of a particularly violent time in Africa. She speaks of the children who have been traumatized by the genocide around them, yet also are, as it turns out, still children who play and laugh in the streets despite their histories. She is able to help the reader see it all from the perspective of an outsider on the inside, one who can be horrified one moment, and then amazed at the resilience the next. I am grateful for her willingness to share her vulnerabilities and insights.
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The April Poems by Lawrence Wilson
Truly lovely poetry by Lawrence Wilson. I particularly liked the various forms of poetry he included, and not being an expert on this, I was very pleased that his introduction explained what he included so that I could read and learn- a natural teacher in addition to a poet. I hope he continues to share more of these with the world.
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The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon
When I decided to read this 1959 classic suspense/thriller, I expected to find it a bit dated, but hopefully worth it. (Okay, there’s no cell phones.) But otherwise Condon’s classic still holds up, continues to be a page turner, and as I read it I felt like I was inside well constructed film noire.
Nancy Burkey 